Group nabbed near NBI for selling fake ‘cedulas’

SIX PERSONS were arrested in an entrapment operation Tuesday for selling fake “cedulas” (community tax certificates) to working students in Manila.

Fernino Ortega, Aida Bona, Celia de Guzman, Jenny David, Diane Defeo and Lando Abaygar were apprehended before noon on Paredes Street near Taft Avenue, close to the main office of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Police found the fake documents and four P50 bills in marked money used in the entrapment.

Cirilo Tobias Jr., head of the city’s occupation permit office, said many of the victims were students who had shown the cedulas to them as a requirement before being allowed to work. The documents later turned out to be fake.

“The city charges only P6 for each cedula but the students paid from P20 to P50 for one document,” Tobias added.

The fake and original documents look almost the same, except for the monetary entries that were handwritten. The figures are usually typewritten on the original document.

The suspects denied the allegations when they were presented to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Aie Balagtas See