3 ex-bankers wanted for syndicated estafa caught

ILOILO City – Three former bank employees facing syndicated estafa charges have been arrested at the Hall of Justice.

Former Rural Bank of Badiangan workers Bella Buscar (manager), 62, and sister Cynthia Tacanloy (loan clerk), 60, and their sister-in-law Leni Abordaje (savings clerk), 51, were detained at the police station in Badiangan, Iloilo.

All three were residents of the municipality of Badiangan.

They and four accomplices have been wanted since 2012, said Chief Inspector Dennis Pamonag, Badiangan police chief.

Rural Bank of Badiangan clients accused the suspects of stealing P10 million worth of deposits, police said.

Pamonag said the suspects have been trying to evade the authorities for years.

“I know that they know they have pending warrants of arrest,” the municipal police chief. “We learned that they left their house (in Badiangan) and transferred to Iloilo City.”

The complaining depositors sought help from the National Bureau of Investigation Region 6 who helped lodge the charges.

Pamonag said they learned that Buscar, Tacanloy and Abordaje were attending a hearing for their estafa cases at the Chief Justice Ramon Q. Avanceña Hall of Justice at around 12 noon on July 6.

Officers from the Badiangan police station served them warrants of arrest for three counts of syndicated estafa through falsification of commercial documents charges after the hearing, said Pamonag.

No bail bond has been set for the suspects’ temporary liberty. Their four accomplices remained at large as of this writing.

It was learned that the three suspects also faced 20 counts of estafa charges but managed to post bail./PN