The partners then began their investigation, the source claims, with the cheque David used to purchase the BMW. They discovered, the source adds, that the cheque was indeed a "company cheque."
THE WHITE PAPER. Within the last week, a white paper shown to a PEP source seemed to further crush the couple's fairy-tale existence. According to the white paper, the couple have been living a lifestyle far more lavish than their incomes can possibly afford them. It alleges that the Bunevaczes would take trips abroad, never travelling less than first class, and charging it all to the company. It alleges that they flew to California, where Jessica's eldest daughter, Hayca, is currently studying, at least five times within one year, first class every time, at company expense.
It does not help the Bunevaczes that they have an obvious liking for the "good life." Apart from the very visible Porsche and the BMW SUV, and the expensive private schools for their children here and abroad, the couple like to wear flashy, expensive adornment. Jessica's watch, says a female employee at Viva, is a "Cartier na maraming real diamonds at iyong kay David mukhang sobrang mamahalin din." The employee also says Jessica's bags are "lahat Louis Vuitton."
Abante Tonite's columnist Rey Pumaloy wrote in May this year that when Jessica's last birthday was celebrated in Hong Kong, she received from David a ring with a rare African aquamarine stone believed to be worth more than half-a-million pesos. Just three months ago, the Bunevaczes told YES! that by 2008 they would be moving out of their rented house in Ayala Alabang, and moving into the house they're building in the same village.
THE INCIDENT. Now comes a PEP source from the business sector who says that "something really happened to David."
Last November 27, the businessman says, Jessica received a distraught call from a male friend who belongs to the same Christian church that she and David go to. The male friend asked, "Where is David? Where is David!" A clueless Jessica answered, "Why? Why?," her voice growing more scared by the minute.
The source goes on to say that the male friend, himself very agitated, told Jessica that he'd just called David on the latter's cell phone. But when the call got through, all the male friend could hear was grunting and cursing and sounds of pain. "Like somebody's hair was being pulled and it really hurt," says the source. Jessica became hysterical by then, adds the source, but managed to make a lot of calls. When she still could not locate David, and became sure that David was in danger, she got a high-ranking police officer on the phone.
Another PEP source, who belongs to neither the Bunevacz camp nor the partners' camp, confirms that this call was made. Jessica reportedly told the police officer that her husband had been "abducted." Pleading with him to find David, and convincing the officer that there was reason to fear for David's life, the officer eventually sent operatives to the Bunevaczes' house. By the time the operatives got there, however, they reportedly found David home—relatively safe, although badly beaten. "He had marks on his face," the source says.
According to the same PEP source, David's story went this way: He was asked by people known to him to meet with them in the Greenhills area. He went. Then they got into a heated discussion, and the guys began accusing him of things he wasn't guilty of. So he kept denying everything. Then they started hitting him with their fists, their feet, and "doing things to him you can't imagine." At one point, they held a gun to his head. Before it was over, they had made him sign over his Porsche, and also got his watch. Then they let him go, with threats to his life, if he didn't return what they said he'd stolen from the company.
CONFIRMING THE RUMORS. This independent PEP source says he is very sure of his story. Still, a check with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Criminal Investigation and District Unit, National Capital Region (CIDG-CIDU, NCR), as of December 13, or more than two weeks after the incident, showed up no record of any complaint—either of abduction and physical injuries or carnapping and robbery—from the Bunevaczes, against anybody.
Nevertheless, another PEP source says that a Beverly Hills 6750 insider intimated to him that the incident "really happened." Reportedly, some investors connected to the clinic wanted answers from David, the clinic's president and CEO, about the misuse of clinic funds.
"Parang David had made the clinic his own personal ATM machine," says the source, and the investors wanted David to own up. "But the guy kept denying everything, even when they showed him their evidence, so they got really pissed," the source adds. That is when things got ugly, the source concludes. This includes, confirms the source, the group manhandling David and taking away his Porsche and expensive watch.
A third source, a friend of the Bunevaczes, confirms that after the incident the couple sought the help of friends "with connections." Some said they had a strong case, and advised them to file charges for abduction and carnapping, both non-bailable offenses. Others advised them to think hard before charging anybody because their enemies had "friends in high places in the PNP [Philippine National Police]." The couple also went to Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr., who reportedly advised them to go the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), a body not under the PNP but directly under the justice department.
According to this third source, the Bunevacz couple are both very frightened for their lives. David flew to Hong Kong the very day after the incident, but returned the following day. The couple did go to the NBI, where they told their version of the story to high-ranking officers of the bureau. They also did go to the Villaraza and Angangco Law Office, in preparation for a possible legal war with their partners. The source insists that the CIDG-CIDU is also aware of the story, but wonders why there is still no blotter there of the incident. "Maybe they're still busy with the Manila Pen incident," says the source.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. A check by PEP with car circles on December 8 confirms that Jessica's BMW X5 is now up for sale, through BMW's Certified Pre-owned program. According to motoring journalists, David cited "financial problems" as his reason for putting the two-month old BMW back in the market.
