The National Bureau of Investigation is now looking for two other individuals allegedly involved in a fake donation scam that led to the arrest of four fake Duterte aides last week.
The NBI-Anti-Graft Division is now looking for one Manny Funa Jr. and ‘JV’.
Funa and JV were identified by Jerico Sauco, one of the four suspects who were arrested by NBI agents in a bank in San Pedro, Laguna last Wednesday. Funa is reportedly Sauco’s uncle while JV is his business partner.
Sauco reportedly called the main office of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and introduced himself as Peter Laviña, President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign spokesperson, and solicited donations worth P1 million for two events in Davao City, including Duterte’s thanksgiving party last Saturday.
Sauco and three other cohorts, Aubrey Pineda, Reinyl Funa, and Paul Gulinao, were arrested while withdrawing P300,000 out of the P1-million donation from a branch of the EastWest Bank in San Pedro.
The NBI said Sauco told them he was not involved in Duterte’s transition team and he was just instructed to withdraw the amount by the waste management company he was applying into.
Sauco added that he didn’t know that the money that entered his bank account was the subject of a criminal complaint. Gulinao said they were only following the orders of Funa and JV to withdraw the money that would be used for the sewage treatment plant they are planning to start.
The four suspects could no longer contact Funa nor JV after their arrest. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
