Cebu City Councilor Abellanosa mum as he faces estafa, extortion case

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — for allegedly extorting and defrauding it of ₱26.8 million, alleging he sold access and influence he did not have over a private insurer’s bidding process, then threatened to derail the project unless the payments kept coming.

Abellanosa is an incumbent member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City. During the period covered by the complaint, the affidavit says, he was a consultant in the House of Representatives under his father, then-Congressman Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa..

It was “precisely this position — combined with his father’s prominence and his own confident representations — that lent credibility to his claims of influence and access,” the complainants allege in a copy of the complaint affidavit obtained by CDN Digital.

The complaint of extortion and estafa, describes a two-stage scheme centered on a memorial park project.

CDN Digital has reached out to Councilor Abellanosa for a comment but has not received any as of posting time.

Alleged influence peddling

First, Abellanosa allegedly approached the firm claiming he “was a man of considerable influence in both the public and private sectors” and “could open doors that were otherwise inaccessible to ordinary bidders.”

He allegedly told them the Company’s management deferred to him, and that with his backing the contract was as good as won. In return, he asked to be paid a “consultancy fee” — what the complainants now call “the opening move in a scheme of fraud and extortion.”

Once the project was awarded, the complaint alleges, his method “shifted from reliance solely on deception, towards unbearable coercion.” It says he invoked a “Manila contact” who had to be kept satisfied and warned the project could be “disrupted, interfered with, or terminated” if payments stopped.

“The message was clear, even when not stated outright: pay, or the Project gets terminated,” the affidavit states. By then the firm had committed heavily to mobilization, bonds, manpower and equipment. “The fear was real, it was well-founded,” the complainants added.

Tabulation of payments

The affidavit tabulates six payments between October 2021 and April 2022 totaling ₱26.8 million, beginning with ₱8.3 million in cash allegedly handed over at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City on 19 October 2021 — the basis for filing in Makati. It also reproduces a Viber message in which Retuya allegedly sought a further PhP1 million for his wedding.

The extortion count rests on the post-award payments, which the complainants say were not freely given but taken under threat. Abellanosa “knew exactly how vulnerable we were,” the affidavit alleges, and was “extorting money under the threat of destroying our livelihood.”

The estafa count rests on the promises that came before Abellanosa claimed he was known to and trusted by the Company’s management, and that those relationships let him guarantee the contract and smooth collection afterward.

Whatever relationship he actually had with the insurer, the complainants allege, he “was not known to, trusted by, or in a position to influence COCOLIFE’s management in the way he had promised,” and “the award and everything that followed was never his to guarantee.”/with a report from Chief of Reporters Pia Piquero

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