Two women who authorities say had links to a big-time credit card fraud syndicate from Manila were shot on board a tricycle by unidentified gunmen at 10 a.m. along Miciano Road in Dumaguete City Saturday.
Meagan Noble, 21, who police say was a common law wife of one of the suspected gang members, was killed on the spot while the other victim, April Bien, 30, said to be a common-law wife of another suspected gang member, died while undergoing treatment at a local hospital. She was reportedly a stewardess of a major Philippine airline.
Both women were from Pasay City.
They had just left the police station to visit their 12 male companions when they were shot.
The 12 suspected credit card fraud gang members from different addresses in Metro Manila were arrested by authorities midnight of Tuesday in one of the hotels in Dumaguete City, after they succeeded in making credit card purchases in various establishments in the City.
A salesgirl in one of the cellphone brand outlets in one of the malls in Dumaguete reported that the same individuals had purchased from their mall store three expensive cellphones worth more than P110,000 using credit cards.
She further said that sales persons wouldn’t really know if the credit cards are fake because in the case of the cellphone store, it worked and dispensed receipts and so with the transactions in the restaurant.
NBI Special Investigator Contesa Lastimoso identified the 12 suspects as John Clyde Angeles, Ramon Rodriguez, Jonathan Adajar, Joseph Nombre, Alpha Christian Villanueva, Erickson Raymundo, Albert Marasigan, Ray Lester Lizardo, Edward Mijares, Nino Pinidi, Christopher Fernandez, and Bernardo Saragina.
A source from the NBI who asked to remain anonymous said that immediately after the arrest, they received phone calls from someone claiming to be a general in the Armed Forces of the Philippines to intercede for the suspects. The identity of the caller was not immediately verified.
According to Lastimoso, one of the suspects, Ramon Rodriguez, is a member of the Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang.
The 12 were charged following their arrest for alleged violation of RA 8484 otherwise known as the Access Devices Regulations Act, after they used a counterfeit credit card in one of the local restaurants early Tuesday evening in the City.
Initial investigation disclosed that the bank concerned had earlier alerted some establishments in Dumaguete about a group of people using counterfeit credit cards and other access devices, and that one of them had transacted with the restaurant.
Immediately, the NBI-Dumaguete made a surveillance operation and found them almost at midnight Tuesday in one of the hotels in the city, while on their way out to the next possible stop, Bacolod City in Negros Occidental.
Recovered from their possession were more than ten counterfeit credit cards with some of them used in different transactions in Dumaguete since Monday, September 11, 2017.
Lastimoso said possession of the said counterfeit credit cards including those actually used in the transactions are considered prima facie evidence for violations of the Access Devices Regulations Act.
According to Lastimoso, the 12 were acting in conspiracy to commit fraud against establishments in Dumaguete.
The NBI is going deeper in its investigation to determine if the suspects, who are all Tagalog-speaking, and mostly from Pasay City, are linked to a group of foreigners who are running an ATM skimming scam in the country.
Further investigations disclosed the same group had also victimized hotels, and appliance centers in Dumaguete.
The suspects were arraigned on Thursday and were granted bail. However, they were unable to leave pending presentation of their birth certificates, after they admitted to the Judge that they were carrying fake identification cards. (MetroPost/ with a report from Juancho Gallarde/PNA)
