Depressing Christmas for Lucena scam victims

LUCENA CITY—Thousands of local residents, most of them ordinary wage earners, had a bleak Christmas after losing millions of pesos of hard-earned money to an investment scam here. “It (was) a very sad Christmas for the family. I lost our entire savings to that scam,” Jose Pedrosa, a tricycle driver/operator, told the Inquirer.

He did not disclose the total amount duped from him except to say that he withdrew all bank deposits he had saved for seven years and invested it on South Luzon Multipurpose Cooperative-Grand Alliance of Business Leaders Association Inc. (SLMC-Gabai).

He admitted he had yet to join the 59 other victims who had filed a formal complaint against the discredited cooperative.

Like most SLMC-Gabai victims, Pedrosa said he was still hoping for even the smallest chance to recover his money.

“Who knows? There can be a miracle. Gabai may suddenly operate again and return our money,” he said with a wan smile.

Police here have yet to determine the exact number of persons who lost their money to the investment scam but they could run into thousands, with Gabai having raked in millions of pesos.

SLMC-Gabai was able to lure so many people to invest in the multipurpose cooperative after it promised a whooping 40-percent weekly interest on their investment.

Waiting game

The total amount of money that went to SLMC-Gabai was estimated to be between P450 million to P1 billion, after some of its officials revealed that the average daily deposits received by the cooperative over three months, from July to October, ranged from P5 million to P12 million.

Another scam victim said she preferred to wait for the arrest of SLMC-Gabai officials before filing a complaint.

“I’m hoping that they will still return my money,” said the investor who lost P105,000 to the scam.

Some of the victims have formed an informal group to keep them abreast through mobile phones and emails on the latest development of the case and announcement from top three SLMC-Gabai officials—Luzardo Lucido, Gabai chair and SLMC administrator; and couple Gerald and Jenelle Morillo, account manager/marketing officer and cashier, respectively. The three are now nowhere to be found.

Hope

Lucido earlier issued an audio statement, which was spread by the investors through mobile phones, asking for patience from depositors claiming that a foreign investor was coming to infuse fresh funds for the resumption of their operation.

Supt. Allen Rae Co, Lucena police chief, instead urged all scam victims to come out and file their complaints.

“If they want justice for the plunder of their hard-earned money, they should help the police in hauling all suspects to court,” Co said.

The police were still waiting for the issuance of warrants of arrest against the three top SLMC-Gabai officials and other suspects who were charged for estafa and economic sabotage.

According to a police investigator, the prosecutor’s office has yet to finish the preliminary investigation.