QC couple suing ‘undertaker’

A couple who had lost a child due to premature birth were apparently duped by a man in Quezon City who introduced himself as an undertaker and offered to take care of the burial for a fee.

They went to the police Friday to file a complaint against Jessie Sampoang, who allegedly demanded payment for his service even though he left the dead infant Wednesday last week on a street at Kingspoint Subdivision in Barangay Bagbag.

Motorists later found the body wrapped in cloth, which Sampoang was supposed to take to Bagbag Cemetery for burial.

The child was born on Aug. 12 but died the same day due to complications at Quirino Memorial Medical Center, according to Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

Sampoang then approached the parents, Danilo Alconvendas and Cherry Gultian, introducing himself as an undertaker, with an offer to bury the child at Bagbag for a fee of P2,000.

After securing the death certificate and the cadaver release slip from the hospital, the boy’s father agreed to give P1,500 to the suspect as initial payment Wednesday afternoon.

The father wanted to go with Sampoang to the cemetery but the latter insisted that it won’t be necessary, Monsalve said.

Sampoang took the baby’s remains in a tricycle and drove off, supposedly going to the cemetery.

The next day, he sent a text message to Alconvendas, asking for the balance of P500 and claiming that the body had been buried.

But the couple learned from authorities that the child’s body had been found on the street. Sampoang remained at large. Julie M. Aurelio