Court sets arraignment of deported couple on new estafa cases

The Filipino couple deported from Canada in January will be arraigned on March 21 for five new estafa cases filed with Branch 221 of the Quezon City regional trial court. Judge Jocelyn S. Reyes of the RTC branch promised during a preliminary hearing on the case on Wednesday that she would soon make a ruling on a petition filed by former senator Rene Saguisag, counsel of Janice de Rosario, aka Flordeliza Kong Pace Tayzon, and husband Kaye Gravador, to downgrade the syndicated estafa case to a simple estafa. Syndicated estafa is a non-bailable offense that carries a penalty of life imprisonment under Presidential Decree 1689. Simple estafa under Batas Pambansa 22, or the bouncing checks law, is a bailable offense punishable by a jail term of 30 days to one year for each count and indemnity of the amount swindled. Saguisag argued that the essential elements of a syndicated estafa are not present in the offenses charged. He said syndicated estafa applies when the victims are farmers or members of a cooperative or association. The case in Branch 221 involved employees of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) and their relatives. Other cases The del Rosario couple has another pending estafa charge at the sala of Judge Evelyn Corpus Cabochan of the QC RTC Branch 98, for which the two entered a “not guilty" plea when arraigned on February 22. The other party in that case was Police Superintendent Constante Agpaoa and his wife, Francisca, also a police officer. The Agpaoa couple has been trying to recover their P7.16 million investments to the del Rosarios. Janice, 44, is now detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City while Kaye, 33, is at the Quezon City jail in Kamuning, Quezon City. Janice is serving a term of eight years for eight counts of estafa for which she was convicted in 1998 in a Quezon City court. She also has to serve another four years for another set of eight counts of estafa for which she was convicted by a San Juan metropolitan trial court judge in 1997 involving P1.7 million worth of jewelry. Saguisag said he wanted to at least get Kaye out of jail so he could take care of the del Rosario children aged 13 and 8 who were deported with them on Jan 21 from Toronto, Canada. Modus operandi The racket of Janice del Rosario involved the promise of 10 to 20 percent monthly return on investments. Janice is facing many more estafa cases, some of which date back to 1986, pending in different courts in Metro Manila and in the provinces, and estimated to involve P250 million. Between 2001 and 2003, she was said to have lured some 200 police and military officers into placing their money in a re-discounting loan facility with a promise of 10 percent monthly interest. From interviews with her victims, it appeared that del Rosario issued checks that the “investors" were able to convert into cash during the initial months, but as they placed more money into her dubious business, she would disappear with no trace. She seemingly moved from one place to another, using different names, to avoid being tracked down and be able to continue doing her “business" with new “investors." Janice used the aliases Flor Kong, Flordeliza Kong Pace, Flordeliza Kong Pace Tayzon, Janet del Rosario, Janice Florence Kong Pace del Rosario, Flordeliza Tayzon and Janeth C. del Rosario. In Toronto, Canada where the couple got around C$3.5 million (equivalent to about P145 million)"investments" from people they befriended, they issued checks drawn against the account of Gloval Venture Placement and Trading. Janice managed to make her investors believe that she was engaged in the buying and selling of high-end jewelry. She promised a 10 percent return on their investments in just 10 days. In the Philippines, Janice issued post-dated checks representing five to 10 percent interest earnings on “investments" per month. -Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV