Republic of the Philippines

Department of Justice
National Prosecution Service
OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR
Baguio City

GLYZEAH NINA ERPELO ET. AL.,

Complainant

-versus- NPS Docket No. 9090-R

For: Syndicated Estafa

IRISH ONG, PRINCESS SAMSON,

ELTON JOHN MALBARBAS,
XAVIER ALGINAY A.K.A
“JAVIER ALIGNAY” and one JOHN DOE
Respondents.
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COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT

I, GLYZEAH NINA ERPELO, Filipino, of legal age, single, the

owner of the online store called “Fashio Nina’s”, with postal address at
Parkway Condominium, Bakakeng Norte, 2600 Baguio City, accuse under
oath the following —

THE RESPONDENTS

IRISH ONG (hereinafter “Irish Ong”), of legal age, Filipino, and with
postal address at Lower Cabinet Hill, 2600 Baguio City, where she may be
served with summons and other processes of this Office.

PRINCESS SAMSON (hereinafter “Princess Samson”), of legal age,

widowed, Filipino, and with postal address at Apartment Number 251 Holy
Ghost Extension, 2600 Baguio City, where she may be served with
summons and processes of this Office.

ELTON JOHN MALBARBAS (hereinafter “Elton John Malbarbas”),

of legal age, Filipino, married, and with postal address at House Number 01
Salud Mitra, 2600 Baguio City, where he may be served with summons and
processes of this office.

XAVIER ALGINAY A.K.A “JAVIER ALIGNAY” (hereinafter

“Javier Alignay”), of legal age, Filipino, and with postal address at Michael
Jordan Street, House No. 11 Dominican Hill, 2600 Baguio City, where he
may be served with summons and processes of this office.

One JOHN DOE (hereinafter “John Doe”), of legal age, Filipino,

married, and is said to be residing at 2088 Lower Engineer’s Hill, 2600
Baguio City and is said to be having a height of 6’0 and tan skinned, where
he may be served with summons and processes of this office.

THE CRIME

Irish Ong, Princess Samson, Elton John Malbarbas, Javier Alignay

and one John Doe are all equally liable as principals in the crime of
SYNDICATED ESTAFA as defined in Articles 315 and 316 of the Revised
Penal Code,

THE FACTS

1. On or about May 2021, I became friends with Miss Irish Ong and
Princess Samson on Facebook because they told me that they were
legitimate suppliers of garments which I took interest in since I was
currently, at that moment, searching for reliable suppliers since I am
an online seller of dry goods and clothing;

2. On July 28, 2021, I saw the Facebook post of Irish Ong, who is also
known as the operator, seller and owner of “Irish EZ Shoppe” that
they offer a 10% monthly income for 3 months lock in garments profit
sharing known as “Ez Shoppe Online Shop” and I joined the said
joint-venture since it was promising based on the pictures and success
stories of numerous investors who were able to get twice the money
that they have initially invested;

3. Around December of the year 2021, I saw that Princess Samson

opened a profit sharing business which included frozen food products
called “Fin Trading” which promised a 20% monthly income for 6
months lock in, which I also joined as a member and consequently
applied as an “admin” by March 2022 wherein we have a quota of
 4,000,000.00 php but I was not able to reach my quota that’s why I
wasn’t able to get my commission since. There was one time that I
was able to get my commission but it was only 3%;

4. Around June 2022, Princess Samson convinced us to join Eton

Trading which was owned and managed by Elton John Malbarbas
which was a container truck buying and selling business;

5. Everytime that we would remit to Eton Trading, we will meet Princess

Samson, one John Doe who is said to be one of the container
managers and Javier Alignay, the secretary of Sir Elton Malbarbas, at
Bos Coffee Urdaneta, Twin Tower, Ortigas Mandaluyong at Pearl
Drive Tycoon Center to give them the money which they promised
that they will give to Sir Elton, and they would always let us sign an
acknowledgement receipt;

6. Princess Samson told me that when I will remit the accumulated

money that I should less the portion of the cash outs called “off set”
which she explained is like a safety;

7. All throughout the years that I have been a part of Eton Trading, I did
not encounter anything suspicious or off since they will routinely
conduct Facebook Live sessions showing their subscribers the storage
facility and would let Princess Samson take over at times and would
tell her success story as once being a member and now being an
admin in hopes of recruiting others to join;

8. On November 2023 I was able to get an incentive worth 1,950,000.00

php and a Toyota Fortuner because I became a Top Admin;

The Incident

9. In January 2024 there was a delay with the cash outs but Javier
Alignay explained in their FB Lives that there is a delay because the
money was currently locked in, and because of this their subscribers
still continued to cash in their money and others even recashed in their
investments;

10. For the months of January up to the third week of February, there was
a long delay for the cash outs but they reasoned that they have
reinvested the money so that it would generate bigger amounts;
 11.On February 16, 2023, Sir Elton messaged us Admins in the Group
Chat that we will have a meeting on February 24 to prepare for the
cash out that will happen on February 25;

12.On February 23, a day before the said meeting, a circular or a notice
from the SEC stated that Eton Trading is not registered under them.
The news has risen chaos among us and we all went to the office on
February 24 and tried to talk to Sir Elton but he denied our requests;

13. Our only source of contact were Irish Ong and Princess Samson that
is why we reached out to them but they told us that we should get a
good lawyer because they can’t defend us since we are “accomplices”.
We still tried to contact Sir Elton on February 25 but to no avail.

THE INVESTIGATION

14. Alarmed with the said occurrence, we have posted the incident on
Facebook and that was when a lot of investors who were first
scammed came to us and told us that they were too victims of Irish
Ong, Princess Samson, Javier Alignay, Elton John and one John
Doe’s money scheme.

THE RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

15. Investigation revealed that Irish Ong, Princess Samson, Elton John
Malbarbas, Javier Alignay and one John Doe had been on this scheme
for quite a while and that they were able to take away a total of 20
million pesos from the year 2019 to 2024.

16.Syndicated Estafa under Articles 315 and 316 of the Revised Penal
Code has the following elements:

(a) Estafa or Other Forms of Swindling, as defined in Articles 315 and

316 of the RPC, is committed;
(b) the Estafa or Swindling is committed by a syndicate of five (5) or
more persons; and
(c) defraudation results in the misappropriation of moneys contributed by
stockholders, or members of rural banks, cooperative, "samahang
nayon(s)" or farmers' association, or of funds solicited by
corporations/associations from the general public.
17. Using their scheme, the respondents were able to take the amount of
twenty million (20,000,000.00 php). Without a doubt, their taking was with
intent to gain.

THE CONSPIRACY

18. Irish Ong, Princess Samson, Elton John Malbarbas, Javier Alignay and
one John Doe deliberately planned this scheme to make it work and be able
to take a huge amount of money from multiple people. Unfortunately, as it
has been proven by time, the truth always has its way of coming out.

19. My lawyer mentioned to me that in the case of In People v. Lago, the

Court held: The elements of conspiracy are the following: (1) two or more
persons came to an agreement; (2) the agreement concerned the commission
of a felony; and (3) the execution of the felony was decided upon. Proof of
the conspiracy need not be based on direct evidence, because it may be
inferred from the parties' conduct indicating a common understanding
among themselves with respect to the commission of the crime. Neither is it
necessary to show that the two or more persons met together and entered
into an explicit agreement setting out the details of an unlawful scheme or
objective to be carried out. The conspiracy may be deduced from the mode
or manner in which the crime was perpetrated, it may also be inferred from
the acts of the accused evincing a joint or common purpose and design,
concerted action and community of interest.

20. The acts of Irish Ong, Princess Samson, Elton John Malbarbas, Javier
Alignay and one John Doe, taken together, constitutes proof of a grand
community of criminal design.

21. In view of the foregoing factual circumstances, I am therefore executing

this Complaint-Affidavit against IRISH ONG, PRINCESS SAMSON,
ELTON JOHN MALBARBAS, JAVIER ALIGNAY AND one JOHN DOE
who, by conspiring and confederating with each other, committed the crime
of SYNDICATED ESTAFA UNDER ARTICLE 315 AND 316 OF THE
REVISED PENAL CODE.

22. I hereby attest to the truth of the foregoing facts.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of
March 2024, at Baguio City Philippines.

GLYZEAH NINA ERPELO

Complainant- Affiant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO BEFORE ME BY HAND AND

SEAL this 11th day of March 2024, at Baguio City Philippines.

MAXIMINE ALEXI E. SANTIAGO

Asst. City Prosecutor

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that I have personally examined the affiant and I am

convinced that she executed the foregoing Affidavit-Complaint freely and
voluntarily and that she understood the same.

MAXIMINE ALEXI E. SANTIAGO

Asst. City Prosecutor