Waitress charged with estafa

An employee of a restaurant is facing criminal charges for estafa before the court after she allegedly misappropriated the money supposedly for the Social Security System (SSS) remittance of her employer.

Prosecutor II Aurora Peñaflor found probable cause to charge Mary Jane Garciano before the court.

"...that on the basis of the sworn statement and other evidence submitted before me, there is reasonable ground to believe that the crime of estafa has been committed and that the accused herein is probably guilty thereof," the resolution stated.

Peñaflor recommended P16,000 bail for Garciano’s temporary liberty.

Rizalyn Deiparine, owner of the restaurant located at White Gold, A. Soriano Ave., Cebu City alleged that Garciano is her employee who was tasked to function as a waitress and at the same time a trusted staff to process the payments with the different government agencies, including SSS, for the mandated benefits of all the restaurant’s employees.

Deiparine said Garciano was supposed to transmit payments to SSS for the months of July, August, and September 2016 amounting to P14,725.

However, Garciano allegedly was not able to provide receipts of payment.

Because of the failure of Garciano to remit the payment to SSS, Deiparine said she was compelled to settle and pay SSS the full amount including penalties for non-remittance of payments for three months in the amount of P17,917.20

Deiparine sent a letter to Garciano directing her to explain why she did not provide receipts but the latter failed to explain.

Peñaflor issued a subpoena directing Garciano to submit her counter-affidavit but she did not answer.

Thus, Peñaflor resolved the complaint based on the evidence of Deiparine and found sufficient ground to charge Garciano before the court.