Thirty fake widows were rounded up Thursday at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City for trying to claim pensions for dependents of posthumously retired police officers.
Director Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr., chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said the women were arrested at the annex building of the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management (DPRM) in Camp Crame after their racket was discovered.
Their modus operandi involved falsifying PNP documents and impersonating the widows of retired policemen so they could collect pensions, the PNP Retirement and Benefits Administration Service (RBAS) and DPRM said.
According to the PNP, it loses an estimated P1.5 million a month due to fake claims.
Anti-Organized Crime Division chief Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles said they learned of the con job after a woman who had introduced herself as Nenita Guevarra Parazo, the widow of Senior Police Officer 4 Nicanor Parazo, was arrested for using a fictitious personal identification card while claiming a pension check.
Subsequent investigation revealed that her real name was Corazon Daguman Galicia. Her arrest led to the apprehension of 29 more women.
They were identified as Evelyn Digo Pataueg, Zenaida Cruz, Irene Beronilla, Anita Vela del Rosario, Candelaria Ogate Tibang, Gloria Castillo Cajalne, Gloria Laysa Vicente, Evangeline Oriarte, Teresita de Guzman, Ma. Melinda Valena, Estelita Wahing Aljecera, Aurelia Pecones, Araceli Garcia Lopez, Angelita Bautista Marquez, Eden Gusad, Jessica Rebeses Alipin, Nena Neron Yahot, Maxima Ando Repuela, Perlita Arellano Aquino, Jacque Arroyo Oronan, Alicia Narca Ponce, Lucena Bocabal Gerarcas, Evangeline Cabatu Gadian, Lydia Castro Manabat, Necitas Escalante Manalo, Corazon Mallari Aguilar, Joselina Ligon Aranas, Rosena Toledo Sanchez and Milagros Batinga Echon.
Estilles said that all of them admitted during an investigation that they were recruited by a woman named Edna Gorpido from Pasig City.
Seized from the 30 women were fake identification cards of PNP dependents and fake postal IDs.
Estilles said they learned that the women would present the fake IDs at the PNP RBAS office to prove that they are widows of policemen in far-flung provinces. They would then inform the RBAS personnel that they are now living in Metro Manila and that they had come to personally claim the pension check.