Two con artists posed as employees of the Mandaue City Hall and solicited cash from various private companies.
The illegal activity lasted for a year until Emmanuel Abadies, 52, and Jonathan Avelino, 38, were arrested by operatives of the City Intelligence Branch in an an entrapment operation last Friday.
Charges for usurpation of authority and violation of the Section 2 of the Presidential Decree 1564 or the Solicitation Law of the Philippines were filed against the two men.
Several establishments in Mandaue and Cebu City had fallen prey to the two men, who were finally caught when they tried to solicit money from Stronghold Glass in barangay Banilad.
In soliciting money, Abadies, a resident of Pardo, Cebu City, would identify himself as Mario Bacalso from the meat inspection team of the Mandaue City Hall.
His partner Avelino is a habal-habal driver from barangay Langtad, Talisay City.
The two men approached the manager of an establishment and solicited P5,000 as prize money of a fictional basketball tournament.
The letter sent to the manager bore the letterhead of the Office of the Mayor.
Signatories in the letter were Eddie Ceniza as chairman, Roel Caña as secretary and Boboy Milan, co-chairman which the con artists said were part of the mayor’s staff.
The manager, who asked not to be named, contacted Mandaue City Hall and was told the names of the three signatories were not city employees.
The manager then went to the police.
The two con artists were arrested after they accepted P2,800 in marked money, said Supt. Josefino Ligan, chief of the CIB of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO).
In the police interrogation, Abadies admitted that apart from Stronghold Glass, they also victimized Golden Harvester, Hi-Speed Construction, Fil Power Group and Albert Surplus.