CEBU CITY, Philippines – The money changer, who claimed ownership of $60,000 (P3 million) found by a scavenger in the landfill site in Barangay (village) Inayawan, Cebu City, presented documents to prove that his business is legitimate and registered at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).A relative of Emiliano Tanpin, who requested anonymity, showed all documents, including a BSP registration and a business permit from the Cebu City government. The money changer office with a business name of Cebu Twin Dragon Marketing Corp. is located inside Tanpin’s home in Lucio Lopez drive in Barangay Calamba, Cebu City. Only a third of the $60,000 was turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) office last week by relatives of a 16-year-old scavenger who found a sack-full of dollar bills at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Inayawan. Tanpin went to the NBI office last Saturday but failed to claim $20,500 since he did not have the serial numbers of the dollars. Tanpin's relative also appealed to those who found the money to return the remaining $39,500, saying they pawned their grandmother's house just to pay their client. “Naputos na mi sa utang (We are buried in debt),” she said, though she assured they were not suing anybody since “they were at the people's mercy” as of the moment. She pointed to a framed BSP certificate issued on September 20, 2007 that stated that they are a registered foreign exchange dealer, money changer and remittance agent. She said they were issued a sticker signifying compliance by a BSP inspection team on June 20. “We are law abiding citizens here. We pay our taxes. We have all the documents,” she told Cebu Daily News (CDN). The relative said they will submit their evidence to the NBI and hope that their lawyer can provide additional evidence. BSP director Fernando Caballa said money changers need to secure a business permit and BSP registration to be recognized as legitimate. The operator also needs to attend the Anti-Money Laundering seminar, said Caballa of BSP's Integrated Supervision Department I. “After securing business permits from respective city or municipal government, they have to file an application with BSP to be registered then attend a seminar on anti-money laundering,” he said in a phone interview on Friday. The BSP registration, he said, will ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering law. This means that the money-changer has to know the customers he or she is transacting, keep records of transactions. In the case of suspicious clients, he or she is required to report to the anti-money laundering council, said Caballa. He also said it does not matter if the money changer's office is located in a barangay or small municipality as long as the operator has complied with the necessary requirements. When asked if there is such a thing as a backyard money changer, Caballa said: “Meron bang ganun? (Is there such a thing as that?).” “If that money changer does not have a business permit and is not registered with BSP, then it's operating illegally,” he said. Meanwhile, the relative recounted that they prepared the serial numbers of the US dollar bills worth P3 million. But the money was placed together with other bundles of money in the sack. “We have listed the serial numbers but naapil didto sa sako (it was placed in the sack),” she said as the money was needed by a client at about 9 a.m. last Wednesday. When they went looking for the money at about 8 a.m. they could not find it. They learned that their helper mistook the sack as garbage and placed it outside their gate where garbage collectors pick up their trash every 6 a.m. They sought the help of their barangay captain and in fact had the incident recorded in the barangay hall. When they found out that it was mistakenly thrown out, they rushed to the landfill to look for the missing bills. By that time, the scavengers already feasted on the bills thinking that it was “grace coming from the heavens.” Napoleon Ursabia who first spotted and grabbed the sack was shocked at the wads of bills that he saw. A scavenger who also requested anonymity said he was among those who received P300 cash, five kilos of rice and some canned goods from the money that Ursabia found. He said he even pitied Ursabia who did not even get a single peso out of the money and was reportedly paranoid of the NBI agents who were looking for him. The scavenger said people should not condemn Ursabia since he only thought “he saw treasure in the dumpsite.” According to neighbors, Ursabia together with his pregnant wife and a one-year-old son left on Wednesday morning without bringing any baggage to his home in Bogo, Cebu due to his fear of the NBI. CDN was unable to talk to Victoria Candido, the one who surrendered some dollar bills to Inayawan barangay Captain Rustico Ignacio. Candido was tasked by Ursabia to buy sacks of rice. But her neighbor said contrary to reports they never got anything, not even a single bill nor a single rice grain. The Ursabia family abandoned their shanty at the back of the Inayawan landfill, even their neighbors said he already left since Wednesday. | 
