Mar. 20, 2008
When it comes to money trust no one.
Now comes a winning lotto ticket which won a jackpot.
Will your lotto partner still share the jackpot prize with you ?
Marilou Odenia, 41, married, of Scout Reyes Street, Roxas District, faces a P3.2
million damage suit before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court for refusing to give her maid, Alvie Morales, 34, a fair share of the P64 million lotto jackpot prize they won.
Lawyer and radio commentator Melanio “Batas” Mauricio, filing in behalf of Morales, urged the court to freeze the assets of Odenia, a former canteen owner, by issuing a writ of attachment while hearing the suit.
In her complaint, Morales claimed that she and Odenia had a prior arrangement to bet on their favorite number combination (8-11-17-24-40-45). Under the arrangement, whoever won the pot would give the other a 10 percent share of the prize money.
Last June 1st, Morales, who was employed as a canteen helper and maid, had no money to buy a ticket, so she asked her employer to provide the P10 for the 6/45 draw.
Morales walked one km to the nearest lotto outlet. Passing by her neighbor’s grotto, she stopped and offered a prayer for luck. After purchasing the ticket, she asked Odenia to keep it.
Power of prayer
A day later, she was ecstatic to discover that the ticket had won the P64 million pot.
Refusing to heed the advice of friends to keep the wonderful turn of events to herself, Morales told Odenia that she had won the lottery.
Odenia, remembering the deal, offered to give her P6.4 million at first, but subsequently brought it down to P3.2 million.
According to Morales the day after winning, Odenia, along with her 15-year-old adopted son Jason and Morales moved from the canteen-residence where they lived to an apartel. The canteen-residence is owned by an uncle who lived with them.
Morales said Odenia initially paid her P12,000 and told her to go and visit her family in Pangasinan. Morales has four children, aged from four to 13 years old, by her live-in lover.
After a week, she went back to Odenia, who gave her P100,000 more and told her to visit her relatives in Cagayan de Oro.
Morales said Odenia kept in touch and made several payments, all in all amounting to P500,000, until last October, when communication stopped altogether.
Morales, who had by then spent most of the money treating her relatives in Cagayan de Oro, decided to ask for the balance of her share in person. Returning to Manila after several months, she was dismayed to find Odenia’s canteen padlocked.
The neighbors told her that her employer had bought a new house in Fairview and moved away.
Luckily, Morales chanced upon Odenia’s adopted son, who was visiting Odenia’s uncle.
She followed him home to a house on Cosette Street, Doña Petrona Subdivision in Barangay Fairview.....
Lesson of the day...trust no one when it comes to money.
