November 09, 2009

THE weekend arrest of the former chief of staff of impresario Rosemarie "Baby" Arenas at the Makati Medical Center has brought out another seamier side of the jewelry scam.

Baby Arenas

The qualified theft complaint in Mandaluyong against ex-Arenas staffer Ma. Elena "Marilen" Guisande was filed by no other than one of the sons of Arenas, Christopher Arenas.

The Arenas son and his wife Kathrina Sta. Cruz, who is also in the jewelry business, claim that they lost P27 million worth of jewels and handbags to Guisande’s buy-and-sell scheme.

The Arenas couple, residents of Pinnacle condominium in Wack Wack, are apparently pursuing the case against the wishes of Baby Arenas, who had wanted to keep the sordid affair out of the courts and hopefully resolve it quietly among themselves.

But the Arenas son apparently had no choice but to sue Guisande since most of the jewelry taken from the couple actually belonged to his 28-year-old wife, a daughter of Wack Wack oil tanker trader Manuel Sta. Cruz.

Guisande, who claims she too is a victim, had been staying for about a year at the basement of the Makati Med. Her physician, Ma. Cecilia Tan, had managed to hold off another arrest order from another Mandaluyong court on the strength of her certification that her patient was suffering from "mood disorder" and thus unable to stand court trial or jail confinement.

The Makati Med confinement was cut short Saturday after Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Judge Esteban Tacla Jr. ordered Guisande transferred to the state-run National Mental Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.