The heiress of the rich Gaisano family in Cebu province could finally see light at the end of the tunnel in the syndicated estafa complaint she filed against her stock brokerage company.
Valerie Gaisano-Sebastian, one of the daughters of business tycoon Edmund Gaisano Sr., has sought the help of National Bureau of Investigation director Eric Distor for the immediate capture of a fugitive who, along with his family and co-executives, allegedly defrauded the Gaisanos in a P3.2-billion investment scam.
Valerie, through her lawyers, informed Distor that a key suspect in the case, DW Capital Inc. executive Wong Ching Yin (also known as David Wong), was hiding in Taiwan. She is hoping the information will prompt the NBI to alert the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, and lead to the immediate capture and extradition of Wong.
The suspect and his associates have been included in the Interpol’s red notice since October 2019 for charges of syndicated estafa at the Cebu Regional Trial Court. Valerie is dead set in Wong’s extradition. She is willing to put up a reward of P2 million in cash for any information from the public that will lead to Wong’s arrest.
David Wong’s capture could finally set the wheels of justice rolling in the syndicated estafa case filed by Valerie. Her legal suit started in 2017 when DW Capital sold her aggregate investments worth an initial P2.6 billion without informing her of the transaction. She later filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing the unauthorized transactions.
Valerie in October 2018 charged 10 DW Capital officers and personnel with syndicated estafa before the Cebu City regional trial court. Following the raffle of the case to Branch 7, Judge Stewart Himalaloan in March 2019 issued a warrant of arrest against the accused officers and personnel.
Judge Himalaloan issued the warrants of arrest to at least nine other accomplices who remain fugitives. They include David Wong, DWCI chief financial officer; Derick Wong, DWCI vice president and director; Dianne Wong, DWCI vice president for sales; Lucy Chua, DWCI assistant manager and corporate secretary; Juvy Ting, DWCI independent director; Susan Lu, Beverly Ansay and Leonardo Marzan.
People closely monitoring the case in Cebu, however, are perplexed in seeing how a fugitive like David Wong continues to go hiding scot-free. Yet, he is able to communicate with courts, including his request to transfer the case to Makati City.
Wong has asked the Supreme Court to transfer his case from the Cebu RTC to Makati RTC. The high court granted the request and sent the order to Judge Himalaloan of Cebu RTC branch 7—the original court hearing the case.
But Judge Himalaloan, according to Valerie’s lawyers, cannot act on the SC directive simply because he has already inhibited himself from the case, which was re-raffled to Judge Ricky Jones Macabaya of RTC 7. Judge Himalaloan should have sent back the order to the SC, which could then send the ruling to Judge Macabaya. Judge Himalalon simply referred the order to Judge Macabaya.
David Wong’s request, meanwhile, has emboldened his co-accused, Derrick Wong, who is also a fugitive, to file a similar motion for a transfer of the case venue.
David Wong and his family, and the other co-accused should surrender and prove their innocence to the court as they claim to speed up the hearing of the case. They are still fugitives from justice, though. And by law, no fugitive should be given special treatment.
The long arm of the law will soon catch up with the fugitives and it’s only a matter of time before they are brought in to face justice.
In April 2019, Derwin Wong, one of the accused, was arrested in Makati. Derwin was married to Eda Frances Gaisano, Valerie’s sister. Early this year, members of the Interpol, in coordination with the NBI, arrested DW Capital treasurer Davidson Wong in Madrid, Spain for the same syndicated estafa charge.
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