Miriam Quiambao files raps vs realty firm

Former beauty queen Miriam Quiambao and four others filed a syndicated estafa case yesterday against an alleged incorporator of a real estate investment company before the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office. 

Regional Director Edward Villarta of the National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) named the complainants as Quiambao, Karen Ann Navarro, Ma. Esperanza dela Cruz, Maria Cristina Avenido, and Sheila Lim.

NBI agents apprehended Dinna Lynn Revilla, the president of Bonaventure Investors Realty Society Inc., which has offices at 407 Praise Condominium on Santillan street in Makati City. The firm’s incorporators – Antonio Revilla, Sheree Revilla, Ramon Cuervo III, and Gloria Petate – have also been named as respondents.

Dinna Lynn allegedly convinced the complainants to put their money in a property investment and guaranteed hefty profits in a short span of time, according to the NBI-NCR.

Navarro, Dinna Lynn’s apprentice, allegedly discovered misappropriations and discrepancies in the property investment and told the complainants about the status of their investments.

The complainants “discovered that their investment earnings were misappropriated and that their property investment were indeed already foreclosed... due to the non-payment of its corresponding monthly amortizations in the bank,” said Villarta.

The respondents allegedly continued to ask for P300,000 from the investors. This prompted the complainants to seek the NBI-NCR’s help.

The agents set up an entrapment operation wherein they prepared 10 marked P500 bills. Navarro met Revilla at a restaurant in an Ermita mall last Jan. 28 and the NBI arrested her once the transaction had been completed.

Special Investigator Manny Fayre said they filed charges of syndicated estafa against the respondents.