Court sets arraignment of Pinoy couple from Canada

The Filipino couple deported Jan 21 from Canada will be arraigned Friday morning at the Quezon City regional trial court for a string of estafa cases involving P7.16 million “investments" of a police colonel and his wife in a get-rich-quick loan scheme. Janice Florence del Rosario, 44, and her husband, Kaye Gravador del Rosario, 33, disappeared in 2003 with “investments" estimated at P250 million in Ponzi/ pyramid-type of a scam. RTC Branch 98 Judge Evelyn Corpus Cabochan has also summoned Janice for the reading of a verdict of conviction way back in 1998 for eight counts of violations of Batas Pambansa 22, known as the bouncing checks law. The couple had also been charged with fraud and falsification of documents in Toronto, Canada for bilking their friends of more than C$2 million in “investments" in their business of buying and selling of high-end jewelry. Police Superintendent Constante Agpaoa and his wife, Francisca, also a police colonel, entrusted P7.16 million of their life savings and those of their relatives and friends to the del Rosarios in a “re-discounting" loan facility that promised them 10 percent returns in 30 days. Dr. Richard Dizon, director of the medical/dental services division of the House of Representatives, said he and his wife, Jennifer, lost a total of P338,165 to Janice way back in 1994. That time, they knew Janice as Flordeliza Kong Pace Tayzon, who introduced herself as a dentist. After a few months, she disappeared without any trace. It turned out she hopped from one town to another, using different aliases, and victimizing more people before disappearing again. Dizon said he was hoping the court could send Janice to the New Bilibid Prisons, the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. Jeweler Dely Tan lost P1.7 million worth of jewelry to Janice, using the name Flor Kong Pace, in 1996. Mrs Tan got a conviction for eight counts of estafa against her from the San Juan municipal trial court in 1997. The court sentenced her to a total of four years in jail and indemnity equivalent to the amount swindled. The couple left for Canada in 2003 and applied for refugee status there, claiming they were victims of harassment by corrupt police officials and that one of their sons was kidnapped and released after she paid P40 million ransom. The Canadian government turned down the application in April 2006 after discovering that their claims were fabrications. The couple disappeared in Toronto on the eve of their deportation to Manila on Nov 16, 2006, but the woman was arrested in a basement apartment on Jan 15. The husband surrendered to the police three days later. They were immediately deported. The couple’s victims in Canada have been closely watching the judicial proceedings on the cases here in the hope of seeing them locked up in jail for life and not be able to find other victims. They have been restive, losing hope of ever recovering their life savings that they entrusted to the couple, particularly to Janice who protrayed herself as a religious and generous woman. The police in Toronto initially refused to entertain their complaints against the couple, saying their dealings were “civil matters" that they should settle among themselves. Two days after the couple were deported with their two sons aged 13 and 8 to the Philippines, the police finally charged them with fraud and falsification of documents. The filing of the case was meant only to bar the couple from entering Canada again. The victims in Toronto included a 75-year-old retired laborer married to a Filipina who lost C$1.2 million, plus mortgage for an C$80,000 worth Mercedes Benz and a BMW X-5 the couple drove around Toronto, and two credit cards with billings of C$40,000. A group of their victims in the Philippines has been preparing to charge them with syndicated estafa, a non-bailable offense that carries a life sentence. - GMANews.TV