‘Mall supervisor’ hoodwinks boardmates
A promise of a good job was the main weapon of a 21-year old homosexual into duping his hoard mates into giving their hard-earned money.
Dexter de la Cruz, a native of Vira, Catanduanes, claimed to be a supervisor of a mall at Mandurriao district, Iloilo.
In exchange for a job at the mall, de la Cruz, who also identified himself as Carlo Galvante, asked for some P6,000 for every applicant.
But after he failed to make good of his promise, de la Cruz was complained by his applicants, mostly his boardmates, before Mandurriao Police Station Monday evening.
“Mga P2,000 pa lang ang ginpangayo niya pero hambal niya kulang pa kuno kay mapa medical pa ko. Buligan niya ko mag-apply sa SM kay supervisor siya sa SM. Ten days na gani. Hambal niya pagka (March) 15 bayaran niya na kay bulig niya man lang na kuno sa amon,” said Stella Mogote.
The suspect allegedly told them that whatever money he got was a loan.
“ Ang kwarta bale nga na, utang na kuno kag baydan niya man pero wala man siya nagbayad,” Mogote said adding that the suspect even asked to pawn her mobile phone to cover the expenses that would be incurred during her application.
During his arrest, several identification cards were only seized from the suspect.
A number of these school ID cards bear the name Mark Apollo Perucho.
While de la Cruz claimed that Perucho is his “boyfriend,” the complainants believed that Perucho was just one of those he duped.
“May mga passport pa kami to nga nakita. Mga lain-lain nga tawo. Basi isa to sa nabiktima man,” another complainant said.
A heap of applicant forms of different individuals were also taken from the suspect’s custody.
Meanwhile, de la Cruz admitted that he indeed asked money from his board mates as he assured them to land a job.
“Nahihirapan na po talaga ako kaya ko nagawa ‘yun,” he explained.
Further, he justified, “kung piniperahan, hindi naman totoo yun. ‘Yung perang ‘yun, binibili ko ng pagkain nila. Nag-go-grocery po ako sa kanila. Hindi ‘yun para sa bulsa ko. Sila po ang humahawak ng wallet ko. Hindi naman po ako ang humahawak ng wallet ko.”
Meanwhile, police investigators are not discounting the possibility that de la Cruz has used the same modus operandi before and had, in fact, swindled several other jobless individuals.
The suspect is presently detained at the lock-up cell of Mandurriao Police Station for proper disposition of his case.
