The suspect serves as barangay secretary of San Isidro in Floridablanca, Pampanga

PAMPANGA, Philippines – Police on Monday, August 19, arrested a suspect in a car loan fraud that victimized public school teachers in Pampanga.

According to authorities, the suspect, Roel Alvarado, was arrested at Astro Park in Angeles City by the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) based on an arrest warrant issued on August 5 by Judge Gladys Pinky Tolete Machacon of the 2nd Branch of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) in San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan.

Police said 34-year-old Alvarado, who is accused of involvement in a loan fraud scheme, has been charged with nine counts of estafa.

Alvarado serves as barangay secretary of San Isidro in Floridablanca, Pampanga. He is reportedly running for a seat in the village council in the 2023 barangay elections.

Authorities took Alvarado to the HPG Detention Center in San Rafael, Bulacan, and said he would remain under police guard until he posted bail for each count of estafa. The bail amounted to P210,000 in total.

Major Karl Eleseto Subere, the head of the PNP-HPG team, said on Thursday, August 22, that Alvarado has been under surveillance since 2023 and that the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) was involved in the operation.

In June 2023, about 17 public school teachers in Pampanga complained to authorities that they had been defrauded in a scheme allegedly facilitated by Alvarado. The teachers were allegedly lured with a promise of passive income by registering new vehicles with a Transportation Network vehicle service.

According to the complaints, several key parties were involved in the scheme: a lender and a car purchase broker, an agent at a car dealership and a bank employee who approved the loans.

The teachers were also reportedly promised a commission for each successful candidate.

Subere said they were expecting information from Alvarado that could lead to the recovery of vehicles obtained through the program.

He said the case was difficult because of the documentation involved, adding that the Anti-Carnapping Act was not sufficient to effectively tackle such practices.

“As far as enforcement is concerned, medyo mahirap talaga dahil mga papeles, hindi naman talaga per se na na-carnap. It is possible that technical carnapping per hindi talaga siya papasok ng can be carnapping and nagging kaso estafa or falsification of private documents, using mababa. Walang pangil yung batas natin sa anti-carnapping regarding ganitong mga mode,” he said.

(As far as law enforcement goes, it’s really difficult because there are papers; it’s not really carnap per se. We technically call it carnapping, but it doesn’t really fall under the category of carnapping, so it usually becomes a case of estafa or falsification of private documents, which are pretty minor offenses. Our anti-carnapping law has no teeth when it comes to this modus operandi.)

So far, only 13 of the 29 originally reported vehicles have been recovered. Rappler.com