My Encounter With
Three Glib-Tongued
“Cons”
by Apolinario Villalobos
First
Encounter/February 2013:
Last year, when I took an aircon van from my hometown, I sat
beside a woman who kept on checking her bag and in the process, sort of
intentionally, brought out several identification cards, some were of standard
size similar to those issued by companies, the rest were big, twice the size of
the standard ones. My eyes caught a big one with the prominent “Royal House of
Sulu”. I got curious so I asked her about it. She gave it to me for
scrutiny. Indeed, the ID carried the
“Royal House of Sulu” and under her photo was the title, “Official and Legal
Representative”. I was looking for the name of any member of the Sulu royal
family, but there was none. But her Christian name, “Juliet de la Cuesta” also
had a “Bai”, indicating a royal title. The “Bai” can be used only for a Muslim
name. I checked for the “Atty.” before her name, but there was none. The
signatures were above the Christian names, too. So I asked her the reason for
such curious combinations. She said it was okey and then showed me another ID
with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but without logo. I was looking
for any familiar name of MILF leaders but there was none. The signature on the ID was for the name of a
“general”. The woman’s name in this ID was a Muslim one, “Fatima
Mausallah”, but without a “Bai”. She
brought out another ID for a “Universal Brotherhood of the World”, with an
address in Marawi City, bearing her Muslim name.
I was bursting with suspicion and excitement, but I
controlled myself in carrying a conversation with her. Occasionally, she was
looking at the old PAL tag ID attached to my backpack and asked me about it,
and if I was connected with PAL. I replied in the negative, explaining that I
borrowed the bag from my cousin who was a retired PAL employee. When she
realized that I was not connected with PAL, she admitted her intention to ask
my help for a discounted ticket, while hastily grabbing her “IDs” from my hands.
I decided to play her game, so I asked for her number so that I could call her
if I could convince my cousin to ask for a discounted ticket. She gave me three
numbers: Landline (Davao), Smart and Globe. I gave her my expired Sun number
and an assumed name. She told me that she was planning to take a flight to
Manila, and then to Malaysia, purportedly, to meet with an official in that
country regarding the Sabah issue. I did not tell her that I was taking a taxi
at a junction in Matina as soon as we have arrived in Davao City, for a shorter
route to the airport, as I was catching up a flight for Manila.
When we arrived in Matina, she was surprised when I got off
the junction. I told her hastily that I would call her. At the airport, I used
a landline to call the woman’s landline number. Somebody answered but I was
told that she did not know the woman. To satisfy my curiosity, two days after I
reached home, I called the Smart number which the woman gave me. She answered
and told me that she was at Sasa, Davao City. It told her that I was using the
cellphone of my cousin which was with an unlimited call load. I addressed her as “Bai” to maintain her
trust. She said that she will be in Manila in a week’s time, and we arranged
for a meeting – at Quiapo Islamic Center. She gave me the address which I
traced immediately on that same day. I
found the address to be that of a small eatery. The owner, when told the Muslim
name of the woman, said she knew her and that she was always in the company of
three guys, and pointed to a guy, who was having coffee that time in one of the
tables, as one of them. I told her not to introduce me to the guy and I left.
My suspicion about the woman’s true identity was confirmed when I finally met
with her in the eatery with two other guys. The three told me many things about
their organization, the “Universal Brotherhood of the World”, even mentioning
Nur Misuari and the “natural wealth” of Mindanao. They invited me to join them
in recruiting members for their organization, adding that the recruits should
be businessmen who were ready to make “investments”, and for every recruit, I
will be entitled to a five thousand pesos “thank you fee”, and they will also
issue an ID for me after I have recruited 10 members. I almost fell off my chair!
As I was already feeling uncomfortable, I told them that I would like to leave
them to visit a friend, a prospective “investor”. After the incident, I forgot
all about the woman and the meeting at Quiapo. I did not bother anymore, to ask
the woman about her trip to Malaysia.
Second Encounter/June
2013
Near our neighborhood is a squatters’ area where some of my
“kumpares” live. I did not know that they were bragging to their friends about
having a “kumpare” from Mindanao. One time, while I was talking to one of them
on my way to the jeepney stop, a woman, obviously a Muslim as shown by her
attire, approached us. After I was introduced to her, she asked my “kumpare”,
“siya ba?” (is he the one?), to which my “kumpare” nodded. When she left, my
“kumpare” apologetically told me regarding his bragging about me. I told him
not to do it again. When I asked him who the woman really was, he said that
according to her, she was a member of MNLF. Because of that impression, she was
given due respect by her neighbors. I was told that she and her live-in partner
were renting a small shack. I checked the place and it was pointed to me by one
of my “kumpares”.
From then on, I took time in spending a few minutes waiting
for the woman at the jeepney stop, and was lucky one morning when I saw her
with her live-in partner waiting for a ride. I confronted her, telling her
outright that I did not like what she was doing. I asked her for an MNLF ID but
she failed to show one. I asked for her intention in telling lies to their
neighbors in the squatters’ area but she just kept quiet. I noticed that her companion was getting
nervous and he told me that they used to live in Dasmariῆas, Cavite. I warned
them that if they would not leave the place immediately, I would expose them to
my friends. I gave them until the following day to leave the place which they
did. When I went back to the squatters’ area in the afternoon of the following
day, the shack has been vacated, but two neighbors told me that the woman was
able to “extort” protection money from them and an owner of a “sari-sari” store
told me that the woman had an accrued accountability amounting to almost four
thousand pesos.
Third Encounter/21
July2014:
On 21 July, I took my place behind a woman in a queue of
passengers at the illegal Zapote/Kalinisan (Bacoor, Cavite) terminal of aircon
vans for Makati. The woman was jittery as no van has arrived for almost an
hour. She was trying to start a conversation with me by saying that she would
be late for her appointment. I suggested that she take a taxi. I made her feel
that I was not interested to talk to anybody because I was irritated, myself.
She mentioned about missing a meeting with somebody from the DBM. That’s it!
When I heard the acronym, I asked her if it was the Department of Budget and
Management, and when she said yes, I became interested. I thought of it as a
good blog material. She said, she was in the area to meet with the city
engineer of Bacoor, but missed him. She mentioned the right name. She mentioned
about the projects and locations that she was supposed to check as they were
about flood control of Bacoor. She again said the magic words. When I asked her
if she knew the Revillas, she said, yes of course! When she mentioned other
things about the city, I finally invited her for a cup of coffee inside the
Jollibee which was just a few feet away. I told her that I was interested in
what she was doing and I might be able to help her. When she consented, I asked
her about her urgent meeting with somebody from DBM, and she told me that she
would just reset the appointment.
Inside the Jollibee, while waiting for our order, I had the
presence of mind to give her an assumed name. In my mind at that moment, was my
previous encounter with a con woman on my way to Davao City, last year. She
brought out a list of “contacts” in different government agencies, even the
staff of the President. She was obviously, trying to impress me. She also
brought out a Xerox copy of a SARO for the dredging of different clogged
waterways of Bacoor. She also brought out photos of government officials,
pointing to “herself” in the photos, but I noticed only similarity of her face
with those of other women in the photos. In one photo, I pointed to a woman
which she said was herself, and when I asked her when the photo was taken she
said “several weeks” ago. I used my spectacles in discreetly scrutinizing the
photo and found the glaring differences between the young twentyish face in the
glossy print in my hand and that of the fortyish mature face of the woman in
front of me.
She finally dropped the bomb when she bragged about her IDs
that she brought out of her bag, one of which was the same as the one shown to
me by the con woman of my first encounter on my way to Davao City last year,
the one about the “Universal Brotherhood of the World”. I was almost floored!
When the food I ordered for her arrived, she attacked it without mercy while
rattling names, such as her being related to the “Alvarez” of Palawan, so I
asked her if she was related to the “Alvarez” brothers being hunted, she
readily denied any connection. Her one ID had the name, “Yolanda Alvarez”. She
had another with the name, “Yolanda G. Estandian”, but told me that she uses
the latter for her Malacaῆan
transactions. I recalled the first name that she gave me was, “Yolly Gabenete”.
She even told me that she was a confidential agent of the NBI!
Perhaps the yummy Jollibee breakfast platter made her commit
so many slips of the tongue that she even mentioned about the “commission”
every time she was successful in her follow up for the release of budgets for
local government projects. She showed me the list that showed percentages
varying from 3% to 7%, depending on the government agency. I suspected her to
be a lobbyist and a con woman! My
suspicion got confirmed when she asked me if I knew of any local government
official who has a pending project! I asked her in return, if she knew Janet
Napoles, and she said yes, but I doubted it.
I told “Yolly” that I knew some guys connected with local
government offices. I asked for her number which she readily gave, though I was
doubtful if they were real ones. When she asked me to write my name in her
“notebook”, I jotted down an assumed name and a jumbled cellphone number. After
she finished her platter of breakfast, I wished her luck and accompanied her
back to the line of passengers and bid her goodbye, telling her that I changed
my schedule that morning, so I am no longer taking an aircon van to Makati. I
promised to call her.
I took a jeepney for Baclaran, and while it was negotiating a left turn through
a heavy traffic towards Talaba (Bacoor), I saw two aircon vans arrive at their
illegal terminal at Jollibee. I saw Yolly, take the second van. I planned to get
off at Coastal Mall in Baclaran for a bus ride to Makati.
After paying my fare to the jeepney driver, I sat back and
contemplated on the same question that nags me every time I encounter conning
incidents, such as, how some people can have the heart to exploit others…a
question that may never get a satisfactory answer.
