50 Pinoy Calungsod devotees in Australia lose P11M to fake travel agency



Some 50 Filipinos based in Australia nearly lost P11 million to a fake travel agency that was supposed to arrange a trip for them to Rome for the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod on October 21.

According to a report on Radyo Mo Nationwide on Friday, after being duped, many of the pilgrims had to shell out the equivalent another P214,000 for plane tickets that would bring them to Rome and back to Australia.
 
Quoting Margarita Maria Matheu, secretary of the Cebu-based Calungsod Committee secretariat, the report said the victims learned that they were not scheduled for any flight when they went to the airport to get their tickets.
 
Many of the pilgrims plan to pursue charges against the travel agency upon their return, the report added.
 
A separate report on Bombo Radyo said the pilgrims lost as much as P11 million to the travel agency.
 
The Bombo Radyo report said the victims included doctors based in Australia who wanted to witness the canonization of Calungsod this Sunday.
 
It also quoted Matheu as saying the duped devotees eventually managed to arrive in Italy safely. - VVP, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Africa roads are world’s deadliest despite few cars ---- AFP

ADDIS ABABA: Africa has the fewest roads and cars of any region, and yet the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, caused by the usual suspects — unsafe habits, speeding and drinking — but also poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars. As everywhere, speed, alcohol and not wearing a seat belt or helmet are among the main causes of death and injury, say experts. But in Africa, where there are 620 traffic deaths every day, these problems are compounded by bad roads, outdated vehicles, minimal prosecutions and a shortage of emergency services. A recent World Health Organization report found that Africa surpassed the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia — which recorded the most road deaths — with a record ratio of 19.5 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Home to only around four percent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year. “What is worrying is the upward trend in Africa,” said Jean Todt, a former head of the Internati...
Read more

The challenge of welcoming migrants and asylum seekers

By Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder since 1974 The Republic of Ireland is known as the "land of a thousand welcomes." It has welcomed 19,846 Filipinos who are now permanent residents or Irish citizens, data from the country's Census 2022 showed. Ireland's population is small: 5.127 million. The nation has never completely recovered from the devastating famine of 1845, caused by the greed and inequality under British colonial rule that left millions of Irish in dire poverty and surviving on the potato, its staple crop. The infection of potatoes by blight led to that famine and the country's population starving. As many as a million Irish died of hunger and disease from 1845 to 1851. The British government ruled Ireland with an iron fist and without concern or compassion. It failed to provide sufficient food for thousands of starving people. The wealthy English landlords in Ireland continued to export grain and cattle to their country during the famine. There was no ch...
Read more

Russia captures town after 2 years of Ukrainian resistance --- Reuters

Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era...
Read more