$60T dumped, lost
CEBU CITY -- A helper threw away a sack containing at least US$60,000 or about P2.9 million, thinking it was just garbage.
The sack, according to information received by its owner, Emiliano Tanpin Jr., was later dumped at the Inayawan sanitary landfill.
Tanpin, a money changer operating on V. Rama Ave., said a certain Napoleon Ursabia, who scavenges at the dump site, found the money and turned it over to Inayawan Barangay Captain Rustom Ignacio.
Ignacio, however, has denied any knowledge of it.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Central Visayas is looking into the incident.
"We are still investigating the matter. The follow-up is still ongoing but there is no suspect," said lawyer Bernard de la Cruz, the agent assigned to the case.
Tanpin went to the NBI office late Wednesday morning to ask for help.
According to agents, Tanpin went to the landfill to look for the money himself but failed to find it.
Tanpin, accompanied by NBI agents, went back to Inayawan later that morning after hearing that the money was now with Ignacio, who was going to return it. It wasn't returned and Ignacio denied knowing about it.
According to information gathered so far, Ursabia, after finding the money, went to a store located near the landfill, pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to a woman to check if it was genuine.
The woman left and came back with two other people.
One of the two reportedly took the money from Ursabia with the promise that it will be brought to Barangay Captain Ignacio, who will change it to peso bills.
Word of the incident reached officials from Barangay Calamba, where Tanpin resides.
"Somebody came to us saying that they found the lost money," said Calamba Barangay Chief Victor Quijano. But, Quijano said, they were later told that the money wasn't found.
Quijano also said they have a list of names of people who may have found the money. He said the list is now with the NBI.
Quijano said a scavenger found the sack containing the money.
"He was in doubt if the money was real. So what he did was he got a relative to try to exchange some of the currency just to check if the money was real. Once people heard that the money was real, everybody gathered around him asking for money. But he did not give them money, he gave them rice instead," said Quijano.
Without directly referencing the case, NBI executive officer Ernesto Macabare said refusing to return money is considered theft under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
The code states that theft is not only committed by one who takes something. It is also committed by one who found something belonging to another but fails to turn them over to authorities or to the owner.
The penalty for this, Macabare explained, is six months and one day to six years in jail if the value of the thing stolen is more than P12,000 but does not exceed P22,000.
However, if the value of the thing stolen exceeds P22,000 the maximum period of six years will be imposed with one year added for each additional P10,000.
The imprisonment, however, cannot exceed 20 years.
At Cebu City Hall, Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. said he did not bother having the incident investigated because the money is unlikely to be recovered.
Pe is the deputy mayor for the Inayawan sanitary landfill.
"First, there is no official complaint. And what will the investigation be for? There's very little chance of recovering anything. Ultimo ang sako na gisudlan sa kwarta makwarta to sa mga scavengers, dili na gyud to marecover hasta ang sako," he told Sun.Star Cebu.
The landfill management, he said, cannot compel the scavengers to return the money since they also have not identified those who took the sack.
"That is why we did not investigate. But whoever owns it, thank you for sharing your blessings to the scavengers," Pe said.
The owner, however, is planning to file charges against whoever is keeping the money.
But Inayawan landfill administrator Eduardo Putot pointed out that the scavengers did not commit any crime.
"What they did was not a crime, it (the money) was after all thrown at the dumpsite. And they also did not violate any regulations at the landfill," said Putot.
Putot said he did not learn about the dumping of money at the landfill until late Wednesday morning.
"The barangay captain (of Calamba) came to the landfill at around 10 a.m. and asked about the dumping of money. The NBI was also outside at the gates," said Putot.
However, Putot said they did not find any money.
"None of the scavengers came to me about the incident and I also do not have any names of those involved," said Putot. (KNR/EPB/LCR of Sun.Star Cebu)
i uli pa kaha neh
Kwarta Sa Basura!
Originally Posted by clarkhkent
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