Probers see link between pols, syndicate behind fake dollars

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The counterfeit US dollars, with a total face value of P20 million, that had been seized from a suspected member of a crime syndicate here might be for the campaign of some candidates, according to a ranking official of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Lawyer Angelito Magno, NBI regional director for Northern Mindanao, said he sees a link between the proliferation of counterfeit money and the election season “because these currencies circulate at the onset of the campaign period.”

“We noticed that fake bills, whether in dollar or peso, usually surface when the election time comes,” he said.

NBI operatives seized a bag containing the counterfeit dollars from suspect Pedrito Tabalon on Tuesday.

While the counterfeit money appeared to be old, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas office here certified that the dollar bills, which copied those that have long been demonetized, are not genuine.

Tabalon, of Barangay Balulang, was arrested in an entrapment operation by the NBI at a restaurant here.

NBI regional chief Magno said prior to Tabalon’s arrest, operatives had already been tipped off about the operations of a syndicate involved in the proliferation of counterfeit US dollars in the city.

Seized from Tabalon were 454 pieces of $5,000, $500, $100, $20, $10, $2 and $1 bills. A $5,000 bill is being sold for P1,000 each, Magno said.

Based on the current dollar-to-peso exchange rate, the seized counterfeit US bills had a face value of at least P20 million.

Wenceslao Galendez Jr., NBI regional agent who led the team that busted Tabalon, said Tabalon identified himself as a church leader and pointed to a retired Air Force official as the one who hired him to sell the counterfeit dollars.

The retired official has not been identified.

Tabalon, in an interview with Inquirer, said he obtained the counterfeit dollars in Malaybalay City from a tribal leader who claimed that the bills were dropped by a US plane during World War II.

Tabalon said in 2001, he was also hired by two Americans to look for outdated dollars, particularly the so-called Wells Fargo bills that circulated in 1934.

He said he was paid P500 per day during the search for the supposed obsolete bank notes.

Tabalon said he found that the bundles of foreign currency in his possession were imitation only when he met up with the buyers, who pointed it out to him.

Magno said for mere possession of the fake dollars, Tabalon had been charged with violating the Revised Penal Code which defines possession of fake treasury or bank notes as a crime. Jigger Jerusalem, Inquirer Mindanao