Marcos ‘relative’ sued for estafa

An entrepreneur who introduced himself as a second cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is facing syndicated estafa and estafa charges before the Department of Justice for allegedly amassing millions of pesos from three individuals, including a public relations practitioner and a retired general.

The entrepreneur was identified as Mario Pacursa Marcos, chief executive officer of Smart Citi Teknologi, who earlier announced a partnership with TESLA Technologies on industrial development projects in the country, including an ambitious project in Roxas, Palawan which would turn an island into a smart city.

One of the "victims," the president of a PR firm, said she was duped by Marcos into financing the PR events and press conferences she planned and conducted for him in the belief that he was a "real Marcos."

According to the victim, she spent P13 million on various press conferences at the Manila Hotel.

"All the checks he gave me bounced. I communicated with him several times, but he kept making false promises," the victim said in a press conference.

Another complainant, identified in the complaint sheet as Phibie Dy, a contractor, said Marcos got P12 million from her when she was promised a contract from his big-ticket projects.

"I gave him P12 million in two tranches, the last one at BGC, The Fort. But when I decided to get my money back, he gave me an unnotarized certificate of title with a deed of absolute sale. It turned out Marcos had no valid ownership in the title," she said.

The third victim, retired Army Brig. Gen. Arnulfo Jose Marcos, said he was tricked by his namesake Marcos into investing P800,000 in the partnership with TESLA Technologies.

"I borrowed the money from the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loans Association Inc. It turned out the TESLA partnership and project were a hoax. That money was meant for the studies of my son," he told reporters.

The respondent Marcos supposedly sealed an agreement with TESLA Technologies to enable the transfer of Czech technology to the Philippine partner for the assembly of two Tesla products in the country — a unique diagnostic health device and a magnetic engine either in Subic or Cavite.

The partnership would supposedly create an Internet-based platform for the smart city program that would provide connectivity for various applications, including households, smart homes, and smart cities.

Smart Citi Teknologi was to invest $5 million for the transfer of technology and another $3 million for the production of small electronic products.