The Bureau of Immigration has been ordered to stop 10 individuals from leaving the country, including the son-in-law of a Cebuano mall tycoon who was earlier arrested after being indicted for syndicated estafa.
In a five-page Hold Departure Order dated April 8, 2019, copy of which was furnished the Department of Justice, Presiding Judge James Stewart Ramon E. Himalaloan of Cebu City Regional Trial Court, Branch 7, directed the BI commissioner and all its Immigration officers to stop Derwin Wong and nine others from leaving the country.
“You are hereby ordered to restrain and enjoin the following accused from leaving in all airports and seaports of the Republic henceforth and until further order of this court . . .” the order stated.
The HDO was issued after the Cebu City RTC ordered the arrest of Derwin, Wong Chung Yin, also known as David Wong; Derick Wong; Diane Wong; Davidson Wong; Lucy Chua; Juvy Ting; Susan Lu; Beverly Ansay; and Leonardo Marsan who have been indicted for syndicated estafa over the alleged unauthorized trading of more than P24-million investment of one of Gaisano’s daughters—Valerie Gaisano-Sebastian.
Derwin, the son-in-law of Edmund “Eddie” Gaisano Sr., was arrested in his condominium in Makati City and authorities presented him before the Cebu City court last April 17.
The accused is married to Eda Frances, one of Gaisano’s daughters. The nine other accused remains at large.
Derwin, whose family used to run DW Capital Inc., will remain in detention while the case for syndicated or large-scale estafa, a non-bailable offense, is being tried by the court.
The complainants’ lawyer Edgar Gica urged Derwin’s co-accused “to voluntarily surrender to the authorities to face the charge [and] to give them the opportunity to air their side.”
“I also appeal to the public to report to the National Bureau of Investigation or the police of (sic) any information that will lead to the arrest of any of the accused,” the counsel said.
Since Derwin is now under the jurisdiction of the court, the arraignment and subsequently the trial of the accused can already proceed.
In her complaint, Gaisano-Sebastian accused Derwin of allegedly trading her P24-million investment without her consent.
The complainant said the accused convinced them to be actively involved in stock market trading and eventually persuaded her and some mem-bers of her immediate fam-ily to entrust the trading of their shares to DWCI.
At the start, Gaisano-Sebastian recalled their transactions with DWCI were straightforward considering that they live in Cebu City, while the brokerage firm is in Makati City. Their business transactions were usually done through telephone calls and fax.
While in Cebu City, she said they communicated with several respondents who were connected with DWCI to buy and sell their shares.
For every trading transaction that was concluded upon their instruction, the complainant said respondents sent them invoices through fax confirming the sell or buy transactions.
On July 12, 2017, Gaisano-Sebastian said she asked Derwin to sell as a block P2 million of their Metrobank shares, which were recorded under their PSE account.
However, she learned that the respondents were only able to sell P45,000 of their Metrobank shares on July 13, 2017 and another P47,000 on July 14, 2017, which gave rise to her suspicions on the integrity of the report given to them.
“I feared that our shares were traded and sold by the respondents without our knowledge and consent, and the proceeds were then misappropriated by the respondents, or that the money we deposited as payments for the buy transactions was not used to buy but went straight to their pockets, or personal accounts, and, therefore, misappropriated by them,” the complaint stated.
Gaisano-Sebastian said this situation prompted them to inquire on the status of their other shares entrusted to DWCI.
A review revealed that there were various unauthorized sell transactions amounting to P24.3 million.