JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Tuesday praised the National Bureau of Investigation for the arrest of two people who allegedly carted away P6 million worth of foreign donations for the victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013.
Desiderio Estinozo and Nestro Lehetemas were arrested in Malate, Manila, around midnight on Monday by an NBI team armed with an arrest warrant issued by the Davao City regional trial court.
“I commend the efforts exerted by our NBI agents involved in this case for their arrest of the respondents. Now we can make the wheels of justice move faster,” Aguirre said in a statement.
“There is no place in our society for people who take advantage of the suffering of others. To make money out of a calamity is very deplorable and should not be tolerated.”
Estinozo, an engineer, and Lehetemas were brought to NBI Headquarters after their arrest
Aguirre said the two stole 100,000 euros worth of donations raised by the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in the Rural Areas or PhilDHRRA, a national network of NGOs that raises funds for the rehabilitation of the areas affected by “Yolanda,” and the Spanish non-government organization Fundacion InteRed.
InteRed provided the funds for PhilDHRR’s project involving livelihood recovery and the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure in the villages in the Municipality of Guiuan in Eastern Samar.
The project aims to repair and rehabilitate damaged schools, day care and health centers and capacity building interventions in three villages in Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
Based on the criminal case filed against them, Estinozo and Lehetemas hacked the e-mail addresses of the parties and were able to change the banks involved in the fund transfer arrangement: From the bank account of PhilDHRRA to the account of DTE Construction and Development Corp. in Cebu City owned by Estinozo.
The Davao RTC issued the arrest warrant against the two in February, but the accused were only arrested after complainants led by Glenn Bais sought help from the NBI in June.