Sen. Risa Hontiveros. INQURER file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday said her office is looking into filing legal actions against individuals who ordered P18,000 worth of food items using her name and her office’s address.
“We are monitoring to study possible legal action. Hindi para sa amin pero para sa mga local businesses at mga riders,” she said in a statement.
(We are monitoring to study possible legal action. Not for us, but for local businesses and the delivery riders.)
In a Facebook post, Hontiveros, a reelectionist, showed screenshots of invoices of orders from a popular lechon restaurant, where she seemed to have ordered one large size lechon worth over P18,000 including shipping fees.
“PROTECT LOCAL BUSINESSES! May BAGONG MODUS ang mga gustong manira sa atin. Magpapanggap na ako at mag-oorder ng nakapangalan sa akin at sa address ng opisina ko,” she wrote.
(Protect local businesses. There is a new scam that wants to taint our name. They pretend to be me and order items in my name, using my office’s address.)
“Kawawa ang mga negosyante, mga empleyado, at mga delivery riders na inaagrabrayado,” she added.
(I feel bad for the businessmen, employees and delivery riders who are taking the brunt of this scam.)
This scam is similar to what the office of the Vice President Leni Robredo experienced a day prior, where they were flooded with orders of around P100,000 worth of grocery items they said they didn’t order.
Robredo’s spokesperson, Barry Gutierrez, said multiple orders naming Robredo, who is aspiring to become the country’s next president, as “client” were made through an online grocery app and delivered to their headquarters in New Manila, Quezon City, on a cash-on-delivery or COD scheme.
Gutierrez said he thinks the trick could be the work of people who are scared of Robredo’s growing chance in the May 2022 elections.