Couple nabbed for estafa cleared

THE Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office dropped the charges filed against the couple, who along with a woman, were arrested for allegedly duping a Cebu City resident in order to gain money.

Assistant City Prosecutor Rhodna Alcala-Bacatan, in an interview yesterday, said there were no sufficient basis to prove that spouses Arthur and Fe Pigon conspired with the primary suspect.

“Based on the evidence submitted to me, the couple’s alleged participation wasn’t established,” the prosecutor said.

The couple was ordered released from the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) stockade.

Bacatan, however, decided to elevate to the trial court the charges of estafa filed against the couple’s friend, Jacquiline Guerrero.

Bail was recommended at P60,000.

The respondents were arrested by the NBI-7 in an entrapment operation led by supervising agent Rennan Augustus Oliva last Friday.

Guerrero, a native of Agono town in Rizal, pocketed a total of P15 million from Guillerma Lim who was made to believe that she has a lot to assume in Tacloban City.

Lim said Guerrero demanded large amounts of money from her in a span of almost three years for the processing of documents, real estate taxes, attorney’s fees and other expenses—all of which turned out to be “imaginary.”/REPORTER ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL