Art agent selling Amorsolo sued over bouncing checks

A woman is facing charges in Quezon City for allegedly issuing bouncing checks to two art collectors who entrusted her with the sale of several masterpieces worth more than P2 million, including works by masters Fernando Amorsolo, Juvenal Sanso and Romulo Olazo.

Ramon Enriquez and Marlyn Alcantara, both residents of Quezon City, filed separate complaints for estafa against Rita Orr of Novaliches in the city prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.

In an interview, Enriquez said he had known Orr as an art agent for five years but never expected she would “run away” with his Sanso painting worth P950,000.

In the complaint, Enriquez said he last met with Orr at a fastfood restaurant on Tandang Sora Avenue on June 12 to hand over the Sanso painting which she had offered to sell. A few weeks later, Orr claimed to have found a buyer but asked for about three months to remit the payment in installments.

In July, Orr gave Enriquez a check for P350,000. He later discovered, however, that the corresponding bank account was already closed and could no longer reach Orr on her phone.

In the other complaint, Alcantara said Orr went to her Cubao residence on Aug. 14 to get three paintings—by Amorsolo, Sanso and Olazo—and a sculpture by Toym Imao, also with a promise to find buyers. The artworks were all worth P1.42 million, the complainant said.

Weeks later, Alcantara asked Orr about the sale and the latter assured her that the artworks had all been sold. Orr later sent her three checks worth P100,000 each on Sept. 8.

But like Enriquez, Alcantara said the bank account supposedly funding the checks was already closed and that she could no longer contact Orr.