By the Bohol Chronicle
Some 120 students from a university in Calamba, Laguna were stranded at the city port after they were victimized by a "tour operator" who escorted them for a four-day Bohol educational tour.
The students from the Philippine Women's University (PWU) ended up their supposed to be learning experience with an unfortunate ordeal which they discovered only when they were billeted at JJs Seafood Village.
The 120 PWU students together with faculty members of the university's Hotel & Restaurant Management department were shocked to learn last Friday that their tour organizer was not able to pay their hotel and transportation expenses thereby preventing them to take a Weesam Express trip to Cebu.
Among the faculties were Jenel Magana, HRM coordinator; Susana Vanguardia, HCS coordinator; Fritz Callanta, dean for academic affairs; Jose Fernando Tabuzo, support services officer; Pedro Tandang, gen-ed instructor; Mernita Bandoy, OSA head and Betsaida De Ramos, school director.
The suspect identified as Luzminda M. Montelcaro, 46, a resident of Maryland Subdivision, San Pedro, Laguna, was arrested by the city police last Friday after the engaged establishments were not paid of their accounts.
According to Jun Caturza, owner of the place where the group was billeted, he was forced to block the departure of the group after learning that it was not only the board and lodging left unpaid but the tour and transportation bills incurred by the group.
Monteclaro who is now detained at the city police reportedly collected some P725,000 from the group at (P7,110 per student) for the Bohol educational trip.
The suspect's unsettled accounts included the one-way airfare (Cebu-Manila) via Zestair amounting to P250,000; P60,000 for Weesam Express, P60,000 for Harmony Resort, P49,500 for JJs Seafood Village, P15,000 for Dinorog Transit and almost P100,000 for Travel Village.
'RESCUE OPERATION"
The stranded students sent their representative to Gov. Erico Aumentado last Friday evening to seek assistance on how they could end the ordeal of staying for another night or two in the province.
The governor accommodated the students at the Governor's Mansion where they slept Friday evening.
While the fund mess will further be investigated by the court and the university administration, the governor requested late Friday evening the stranded students be accommodated on board "M/S San Paolo" of Negros Navigation which left direct to Manila past 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon.
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