Saturday, July 15, 2006
Woman meted 24 years for duping taxi owner
By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE Regional Trial Court (RTC) sentenced a businesswoman to 24 years in jail for allegedly defrauding a taxi operator in Davao City sometime in 2001 and 2002.
The woman has since jumped bail.
In his seven-page decision, RTC Branch 16 Judge Emmanuel C. Carpio said Juliet Santos Bais, owner of the Shangrila Communication Electronic Sales and Service Center, was found guilty of four counts of estafa and sentenced, in each case, to suffer indeterminate penalty of two years, eleven months and ten days as minimum to six years as maximum.
Carpio also ordered Bais to pay a civil indemnity of P68,959 to complainant named Danny Lu, owner of the Rediscovery taxi.
In his affidavit, Lu said that on July 6, 2001, he gave P15,615 cash to Bais, who volunteered to facilitate the renewal of the licenses from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the handheld radios he purchased from Bais.
The radios, Lu said, were supposed to be installed in his taxi units.
Since he trusted Bais, he also released P23,160 in cash for the processing of new licenses of handheld radios he purchased on March 12, 2002.
Lu gave another P30,184 cash to Bais after he purchased handheld radios on August 8 and August 9, 2002.
Lu was thus taken by surprise when he received a verification notice from the NTC telling him that his handheld radios were still unlicensed.
Lu said he contacted Bais and even sent a demand letter for her to process the license of his purchased radios but to no avail thus, the filing of the case.
On July 11, 2003, Bais posted a surety bond of P32,000 for her provisional liberty. On September 1, 2003, Bais failed to appear in court despite of prior notice.
Bais was continually absent during the court hearings prompting the court to issue a warrant of arrest.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 15, 2006 issue)
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