TFK head Chiong on ‘P3.52-M estafa’ and cyber libel cases: ‘Arrest me now if I have warrants!’

“If you have the warrants of arrest against me, then arrest me now, here I am!”

Thus stressed Task Force Kasanag founder-commander John Chiong during Monday’s press conference, as he denied reports that warrants of arrest were issued against him in relation to an alleged P3,525,000
estafa case in Bacolod, and an alleged cyber libel case in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte.

His counsel, Atty. Roger “Brick” Reyes, also during the press conference at the Negros Press Club center, in denying that Chiong has arrest warrants, said that the alleged P3,525,000 estafa case should have been filed in Davao and not in Bacolod.

“It is undergoing review at the Department of Justice and … Chiong has legal remedies he can avail of,” Reyes also said. When questioned about the copies of documents from the courts, Reyes, who is Chiong’s TFK deputy commander, said that “it is now easy to (fake) documents.”

Chiong, on the other hand refused to comment on an alleged cyber libel case filed against him in Iligan City. Reyes, on his part said that such case has a lot of requirements to prosper.

Both stressed that there are moves to discredit and destroy the reputation of Chiong, saying the TFK head has filed scores of corruption and other charges before the Ombudsman and the courts against government as well as private individuals “whose influences and clouts in various sectors are very strong.”

Chiong’s TFK has advocacies and undertakings against illegal drugs, graft and corruption, terrorism, crimes, among others.

SUBJECTS

In court documents shared to the media, Allan Vir Gumahin, Assistant City Prosecutor of Bacolod City, has filed charges of estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities against John Chiong, Rosalin Corazon Cay, Elleina Yasa, Chris Omega Sancho, and Marlo Gerardo Artacho, docketed as Criminal Case No. 22-10-37996, dated October 10, 2022.

The case involves “… a financing agreement” in Davao City in the amount P3,525,000. Gumahin recommends a bail of P48,000.

An information was reportedly filed with the Regional Trial Court citing the nature of the alleged case.

A separate document, also shared to the local media, indicates that Judge Silvestre Orejana Jr. of the Regional Trial Court Branch 5 in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte has issued a warrant of arrest dated October 18, 2022 against Chiong for the crime of cyberlibel. Orejana recommends a bail of P60,000.* (APT)