Inside job: Osmeña on stolen P91T

Cebu City mayor clears Land Bank from incident, believes culprit is from his house or office

AN inside job. This was how Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña described the incident where he lost P91,000 from his Land Bank of the Philippines’ (LBP) payroll account.

The mayor earlier said he might have been victimized by the alleged automated teller machine (ATM) skimming fraud or a system breach.

“Apparently, it has nothing to do with the bank. It might have been an inside job in my house or in my office,” he said in a news conference yesterday.

Osmeña said he already has a suspect behind the three unauthorized withdrawals in his account last October.

The mayor said that the matter is be- ing investigated internally.

He begged off from disclosing what he will do next once his suspicions are validated.

“It is a personal thing so I won’t comment on that anymore,” he said.

Told about the suggestion of the Cebu City Police Office to refer the incident to the Anti-Cybercrime Unit so it will be investigated, Osmeña said it would be premature to do that.

“Let me see it first, the evidence. Internally, we are doing our own investigation,” he said.

Osmeña said he never had the ATM card of his LBP payroll account. It was either mailed to his office or in his house.

The mayor said he only knew of the unauthorized withdrawals when he visited the bank last week to get a new ATM card.

Upon discovery, his wife, Councilor Margarita Osmeña, had the mayor’s PIN (personal identification number) immediately changed to prevent further illegal transactions.

She also withdrew the remaining balance of not more than P100.

The mayor advised card holders to check the balances of their bank accounts often so it will be properly monitored.

Following the incident, police reiterated its advisory to the public to be wary against ATM skimmers.

Supt. Artemio Ricabo, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy director for administration, also pointed out the importance of being vigilant when purchasing products using debit cards.

Ricabo suggested to the mayor to report the matter to the Cebu City Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Unit for a thorough investigation.

Ricabo advised the mayor to visit the CCPO office and to file a report about the incident as the Anti-Cybercrime Unit will be able to help him in tracing down the perpetrators.

He added that the public should regularly check their ATM transactions for unaccounted cash.