THE wedding planner in Lapu-Lapu City who allegedly duped at least 16 couples was given a week to find a guarantor to pay what he owed to them.
Lawyer James Allan Sayson, Lapu-Lapu City legal officer, said the six couples who were present during their settlement on Wednesday, June 22, at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Station 3 in Barangay Gun-ob decided to give Gregorio Osain seven days to look for a guarantor.
“We will try to draft a compromise agreement sa schedule ug kon unsaon pagbayad ug pilay ibayad,” said Sayson on Thursday, adding that the couples will decide next week should they push through with the filing of a case or not.
The amount that Osain had allegedly taken from the victims, excluding the suppliers and 10 other couples, has already reached P490,000.
But Sayson said Osain may have carted away at least P1 million from all the victims.
Osain, 30, a resident of Barangay Looc, in the same city, turned himself in to Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan after the latter asked his followers on his social media page to locate him.
Chan said he decided to seek online help after one of the couples complained that Osain had taken their money but had not given updates on the progress of their wedding preparations.
Osain admitted to the couples that he had mismanaged the money given to him, but denied using it for personal purposes.
He, however, promised to return the money to his clients on an installment basis.
Osain said that couples who wanted to get his services need only to pay a minimum of P75,000 for the preparations for the church wedding and reception.
He said that for this month of June alone, he accepted about 10 wedding bookings.