Pranksters scam restos using Cebu City officials names

You can’t have your cake and eat it too,” says a popular American idiom used for expressing the impossibility of having something both ways.

However, these days, unidentified pranksters seem to be having something both ways: a good laugh out of ordering food for several City Hall offices, unauthorized; while scamming their way through unsuspecting restaurants.

The pranksters seemed to have a heyday last Thursday, when most of the fake calls were placed.

Kilos of lechon, dozens of burgers, several crispy pata and even coleslaw salad innocently found their way to the offices of Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and at least three Cebu City councilors this week, after food orders were placed, via telephone, by people claiming to be the Vice Mayor or members of the offices that supposedly called.

Personnel in the office of Labella were surprised to see four packs of boneless lechon belly delivered to their office, Wednesday morning, when no one ordered for the food.

A cashier of Cebu’s Original Boneless Lechon Belly whose branch was right across City Hall personally delivered the food saying that it was the vice mayor himself who called and placed the order.

“When she got here, she was even still able to talk over the phone to the one who placed the order claiming to be the vice mayor. But later on, when we tried to call again, the number was not picking up anymore,” said Juvelyn Montecillo, a member of Labella’s staff.

The delivery contained two kilos of “original lechon belly” which cost P600 per kilo and another two kilos of its spicy variant costing P680 per kilo.“The cashier was about to cry because if nobody paid for it, she will have to,” Montecillo recalled prompting Labella to just pay for the order. But this was not to be the end of it.

That same afternoon, Labella’s office received another order of five slabs of Crispy Pata from Alejandro’s Restaurant costing more than P3,000.This time, Labella and his staff refused to pay for the food which also came with advice from the delivery boy that the restaurant had to send P500 worth of load to the cellphone number of the caller who claimed to be Labella.

The “vice mayor” had promised to settle the cost of the cellphone load together with his food order once it arrived at city hall.

Over at the office of Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo, P2,000 worth of burgers from Flame It were delivered, Thursday afternoon. Each burger was said to cost P120.

“We called Councilor Guardo, he said he didn’t make the order. We didn’t receive it,” said Joanne Vallentos, a member of Guardo’s staff.

Earlier that day, they also received two boxes of Ayer’s lechon; while on Wednesday, a batch of burgers from Burger Joint worth P3,215 was delivered to their office with each burger costing between P140 to P145.

“This all happened this week. We didn’t pay for it,” Vallentos said adding that they also believed that it was “risky for us if we ate it and it turns out that there’s something in the food.”

In the office of Councilor Sisinio Andales, four orders of coleslaw salad from Kenny Roger’s were also delivered last Thursday. The caller also asked for a cellphone load worth P700.

Andales’ staff, Maria Carmela Patino, said that they were surprised with the delivery since they usually only ordered food from another restaurant and would just pick it up.

“We were confused why there was food when we didn’t order. Councilor Andales was also not around that time since he was attending a convention,” she said.

At the office of Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, a member of her staff, Kate Belaniso said that they also received a delivery of eight burgers from Burger Joint and three boxes of lechon from Ayer’s with each box containing two kilos of lechon worth P1,200 each, last Thursday.

Delos Santos office refused to pay for the food and had it returned.

Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, head of the city’s committee on public order and safety, described the incidents as an “eye opener” and called on business establishments with delivery services to be more stringent in responding to orders to avoid being pranked.

“They really have to verify these calls and orders. They have to enhance their system especially nowadays,” Tumulak said adding that he will turn over the cellphone numbers of those who placed the hoax orders to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) so that they can be investigated and tracked.