Oton police caution public vs fake bills

By Jennifer P. Rendon

The Oton Municipal Police Station in Iloilo on Friday warned the public against fake peso bills circulating in the area.

This, after two vendors in Oton claimed that they were paid with counterfeit bills.

Major Fernand Limbungan, Oton police chief, said the victims did not report the incident to the local police.

“When we received the information, we went to the market in-charge to investigate,” he said.

The two vendors surrendered the fake bills – a P1,000 and a P500 bill – on Nov 3, 2022, to the market in-charge.

The P1,000 fake bill was paid to a fish vendor while the P500 bill was used to purchase pancit or noodles.

Limbungan said one of the victims knew that he got a fake bill after he tried using it to pay for his purchase at the Iloilo Terminal Market in Iloilo City.

His suki or source informed him that he got a counterfeit bill.

Limbungan said the Oton public market has no closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

“We hope that the victims could give us a detailed identification of those who paid them with the fake bills,” he said.

Most, if not all, vendors are also not equipped with UV counterfeit currency detectors, which are used to distinguish special inks in the bills that only appear under the proper wavelength of UV light.

Limbungan said it is likely that several persons carried out the duping. But it is also possible that they belong to one group.

Meanwhile, Limbungan has also advised the public and those who possess fake bills to immediately report it to the nearest police station.