A former employee of a travel agency in Dumaguete was sentenced to 52 years imprisonment after she was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of three counts of qualified theft by Regional Trial Court Branch 34 in Negros Oriental.

RTC Judge Rosendo Bandal Jr. imposed the sentence on Cherie Mae Catan-Hipe, who was accused of pocketing more than P100,000 in cash in three transactions of Eight Wonders Travel and Tours Inc., owned by Elsie Lee of Lee Plaza .

Court records show that Hipe took P31,109, the amount paid by Davida Manugas, a client of Eight Wonders Travel and Tours Inc. to pay for her Philippine Airlines ticket for a one-way flight from Manila to San Francisco , USA .

Geates Hay Picken also paid P51,712.50 for his Qatar Airways ticket for a round trip flight from Cebu to Doha, to Manchester, to Doha and to Cebu. The third client, Tony Casling, paid P23,850.00 for his Cathay Pacific Airways ticket for a one-way flight from Cebu to Hongkong to Auckland.

In a 14-page decision, Bandal imposed a total of 52 years imprisonment on Hipe, ordered her to restitute Eight Wonders Travel and Tours Inc. the total amount she pocketed and to pay P20,000 in exemplary damages and another P20,000 in moral damages.

He also ordered Cherie Mae Catan-Hipe to be immediately detained at the Correctional Institution for Women at Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.*JG

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