MANILA, Philippines - Not even senators are immune to scams, especially one perpetrated by fake priests.
Sen. Franklin Drilon found this out the hard way after he donated money to con men asking for donations to a feeding program allegedly organized by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the fraudsters asked Drilon to support a nutritional feeding program for around 2,700 malnourished children in the city’s slum areas. They also asked Drilon P14,730 "for the procurement of materials like gas range, kitchen utensils and water drinking containers to be used in feeding centers."
Peachy Yamsuan of the Manila archdiocese’s Office of Communications said the letter bore a fake letterhead and signature. “The letter is absolutely a forgery. His signature is not like that. The archdiocese’s letterhead is also wrong,” she said.
She said the archdiocese does not solicit specific amounts and usually courses it through their charity arms, Pondo ng Pinoy and Caritas Manila.
Yamsuan said 2 fake priests identified as Fr. Eduardo Mendoza and Fr. Mike Abella are behind the scam. She said the 2 are not listed in the Catholic directory.
The CBCP discovered the scam after Drilon’s office sent them a copy of their acknowledgement letter mentioning that the senator issued a check worth P12,400 as donation to the supposed program.
A suspect is reportedly now under the custody of the Quezon City Police Station 6 and the archdiocese is looking at the possibility of filing forgery charges against him.
Yamsuan urged the public to always verify the veracity of any solicitation letters in the name of the archdiocese before acting on them.
source: abs-cbnnews.com
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