A former university professor and his cohort were arrested last Sunday, Jan. 15, for allegedly defrauding an officer of a China-based company of over P22 million, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) announced on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Maj. Don Don Llapitan, QCPD Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) chief, identified the suspects as Allan Bautista Alba, 38, a former professor of Bulacan State University, and his cohort, Danilo Cabiles Bognot Jr., 30, a job order employee at the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
Police said that the victim, Haitao Jiang, 44, chief executive officer of Phifua Education Company in China, had transacted with Alba and one Libert Acibo regarding various school documents (e.g. diploma, transcript of records, admission letter) which will allegedly come from different universities in the country.
The documents will be provided to 61 Chinese students in China.
Police said Jiang paid the suspect P22,426,000, but no documents were provided to the victim.
Alba also demanded for additional P150,000 for the processing of the said documents and asked the victim to meet up with him. The suspect told the victim that he will bring Bognot Jr. who is allegedly from CHED.
Jiang, who became suspicious, sought help from QCPD, leading to the arrest of the suspects in an entrapment operation in a pizza restaurant on Matalino St. in Diliman, Quezon City, at around 11 p.m. on Sunday.
Alba and Bognot Jr. will be charged with swindling or estafa before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, police said.
“May this be a stern warning to everyone. Ang ating mga pulis ay handang gawin ang lahat upang masakote ang mga taong gumagawa ng anomalya. Dumaan po tayo sa tamang proseso sa pagkuha ng mga ligal na dokumento upang hindi maloko (Our police are ready to do everything to arrest people who are doing anomalies. Let's go through the correct process in obtaining legal documents so as not to be fooled),” QCPD director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said.