They Did Not Listen

by Cecile Cinco

Being with a keyboard more than a pen for the past several years, letters I receive are electronic. That means less and less handwritten specimen that I receive.

In one of my playtimes, I was chatting (offline) with a friend who is the founder of the Talitha Foundation (which I was heavily involved with at that time) when she was reviewing the biodata of the members. She was updating me on what's happening and asking me what I thought about whatever decision she made.

She showed me the filled-up biodata of the new members filed in a folder. I looked at them, not as she would like me to look at it. Instead, I analyzed the handwriting. I know it's not that accurate as the writer filled up a form but there are portions that the writer did not care about his or her handwriting since it was in the normal form, not printed, not ruled.

As I scanned through the pages, something caught my searching eyes. I told my friend to be careful of that person, a deceiver, a liar. She would not believe me as this person was very kind and helpful. I said it's up to her to believe or not, just don't tell me I did not warn her.

Several months later, about 3 or 4, I just heard that this person scammed another friend of mine in the realty business. This scammer was supposedly a sales manager and my friend (who was also an officer of the Talitha Foundation) was under him. My friend had a buyer and has been paying cash for the downpayment and merely trusting the scammer that the receipt was just tucked in his drawer. Everytime the receipts were asked, he had an alibi why he could not give it that time until the time passed by again for the next payment.

Until he could not be found. He was in hiding. It turned out he was not giving the payment at all to the developer. The worst thing is, my friend was not the only victim.

I warned them. They did not listen.