A CHINESE national who claimed that four armed men kidnapped him and his two helpers and stole P100,000 from them while they were shopping in Carbon Public Market last month was nowhere to be found in his rented apartment in Isla Alegre, Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City.
According to Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), no robbery occurred in the three locations that Chinese businessman Jason Montero Co, 49, disclosed upon review of the CCTV camera footage.
Because of this, the police will file a perjury case against Co, since he was only inventing stories, and they will back his employees’ claims that they were only instructed by their boss.
"Base sa atung latest nga investigation nga kini nga Chinese businessman dili na ni siya ma locate karon sa apartment kung asa siya nagpuyo. Sa pagkakaron, padayon ta sa pag-andam sa mga nacessary documents aron sa pag file sa kasong perjury under article 183 of the Revised Penal Code," Dalogdog said.
(Based on our latest investigation, this Chinese businessman cannot be located in the apartment where he lives. Currently, we are continuing to prepare the necessary documents to file a case of perjury under article 183 of the Revised Penal Code.)
Dalogdog believed that the Chinese national was fabricating stories in order to cover up his enormous debt from the fake cigarette business in Mindanao.
The CCPO found out in their background investigation that Co was one of those being monitored by the police because of his alleged involvement in the smuggling of fake cigarettes to Cebu.
It should be remembered that they were allegedly found and assisted by barangay tanods in Campo 4 in Talisay City after they were tied up and taken to the area by four unknown people and left with their hands spread.
On July 10, 2023, Co claimed that he and his helpers Virgilio Zanzan Lerin, 46, and Alberto Lerin, 16, both of Loon, Bohol, were loading onto his white van (GAT 6858) the goods that they purchased at the Carbon Public Market at 9:20 a.m. of the said day when the four men appeared and ordered them to get inside the vehicle.
The criminals then commandeered the car to Campo 4 in Talisay City, where they stole P100,000 in cash, a cell phone, and an ATM card from Co.
They also tied the victims' hands and feet with duct tape and blindfolded them before dumping them in Campo 4.
The victims were later discovered by the barangay tanods, and Co's car was later discovered abandoned a few meters from the scene of the crime.
In spite of their claims that they were forcibly taken away by the perpetrators, the police's review of the CCTV footage shows that there was no commotion in the Carbon area where the victims were reportedly abducted.
Furthermore, Co -- and not one of the criminals -- was reportedly the one driving the car towards Campo 4.
Co later changed his earlier statement, claiming that on July 10, it was not in the Carbon Public Market, where he had been kidnapped, but rather near the Compania Maritima building.
However, when the personnel at the Waterfront Police Station requested him to indicate the location where he was allegedly abducted by the four unknown males, the victim led them to a mall in the North Reclamation Area in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Police Major Eraño Regidor, chief of Mabolo Police Station, said that based on the statements of habal-habal drivers, security guards and ambulant vendors, there was no commotion near the mall, where the alleged kidnapping took place, from morning until evening, and if there had been, it would have been obvious given its proximity to the police station. (AYB, TPT)