2 senior citizens, pal track down, arrest woman who duped them

Beware of the wrath of the elderly.

Two senior citizens and a friend have enforced a citizen’s arrest against a woman who they claimed had duped them of close to P300,000 worth of plane tickets and tour packages.

The three claimed that they paid Maria Edita Chua, 46, a freelance travel agent, of Sta. Cruz, Manila, for the travel packages but the suspect allegedly never delivered and even tried to hide from them.

The alleged victims—Shirley Chong, 59; Teng Teng Abella, 68; and Giovanni Bernard Tumambing, 35—caught up with Chua before midnight of Thursday, along Alonzo Street in Sta. Cruz and enforced a citizen’s arrest on her when she allegedly could not produce P110,000 worth of plane tickets bound for Malaysia that she promised to deliver.

The three brought Chua to a hospital for a medical check-up, a police standard operating procedure for arrested suspects, before turning her over to the custody of the Manila Police District General Assignment Section  (MPD-GAS).

Four other senior citizens, who requested that they remain unidentified, surfaced Friday upon learning of Chua’s arrest and accused her of duping them of a P170,000 tour package.

SPO1 Donald Panaligan, case investigator, said that based on the complaints, Chua had allegedly introduced herself as an employee of a travel agency and offered to book them in the travel promos of two airline companies.

Panaligan said the seven complainants availed of the promos and either paid Chua in checks or by depositing the amounts directly in her bank account.

Chong and her two companions claimed that they first transacted with Chua on July 13 in her house at Bambang Extension in Tondo, where they paid her P110,000 in checks for plane tickets to Malaysia.

Five days after the transaction, Chua gave them itinerary tickets which indicated that they were scheduled for departure on Aug. 26.  But on Aug. 19 they discovered, upon confirmation with the airline’s website, that the itinerary tickets were fake and that there was no such booking. They said they tried to call Chua but she had turned off her mobile phone and had begun hiding from them.

The four other complainants who requested anonymity said that they met Chua in July and availed of a Singapore tour package from her. They then deposited the P170,000 payment for the travel package in Chua’s bank account. They said they could no longer reach Chua when they learned from the travel agency Chua represented that the latter was on an indefinite leave.