Officials of Negros Oriental State University System led by President Dr. Don Vicente C. Real are warning the public about the proliferation of counterfeit money circulating nowadays after a NORSU Nursing student was discovered in possession of two fake one thousand peso bills.
On May 9, Jovelyn T. Alabata, receiving staff of the NORSU Accounting office, suspected that two one thousand peso bills a student was using to pay for her summer tuition were counterfeit. Upon close inspection using ultraviolet light technology the said bills were confirmed to be fake.
Latifa Jemutai Chepkwony, a foreign student taking up Nursing in NORSU Main Campus I, who was in possession of the fake bills, claims that she did not know the bills in her possession were counterfeit. In a written statement, Chepkwony claims that she and a friend, Felix Kogei, withdrew money from a Western Union outlet at Robinson’s Place Dumaguete on the evening of May 8. Upon receiving the money, a man next to her asked if she could change three one-thousand peso bills. Not suspecting anything out of the ordinary, Chepkwony claims that she gave the man six five hundred peso bills in exchange for the three one-thousand peso bills. It was this money that she used to pay NORSU.
Dr. Real made this appeal in light of recent information that huge amounts of moneys will be spent by certain politicians in the province for the upcoming elections. Provincial officials, in several media interviews, warn that there is a big possibility that this amount, suspected to be used for vote-buying, are counterfeit.
The NORSU President is urging the public to report to the proper authorities persons in possession of fake currency and to take extra precaution of the modus operandi of unscrupulous people who intend to dispense of counterfeit money. (NORSU-IPO)