Cuambot Posts Two Wins In One Week

by ALEX P. VIDAL

WEST COVINA, California — Dismissed by a Mandaluyong City-based matchmaker as a “has-been” for turning professional late, Remy “Yoroshi” Cuambot continued to prove his critics wrong as he silently marshaled into his second straight win in one week recently to open 2009 with a big bang.
Fresh from toppling Manny Talicsic in the undercard of the “Judgment in the Far East” battle for vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) international featherweight championship between Bernabe Concepcion and Sande Otiendo at the Araneta Coliseum on January 11, Cuambot eked out another 6-round unanimous decision win over Jessie Tuyor at the Ynares Plaza Gym in Binangonan, Rizal on January 17.

Fighting under the Aljoe Jaro Stable, Cuambot, a former amateur sensation from Iloilo City, now has four wins, 1 draw and one loss since he turned pro-fessional in February 2008.

His manager Chad Colocado said promoter Aljoe Jaro has promised to book Cuambot in another blockbuster card in Araneta Coliseum on March 15 in the undercard of International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion Nonito Donaire, Jr’s next title defense because of his “good” performance.

Before 2008 ended, Cuambot nosed out Ricardo Niones in Paranaque City on May 7 before trouncing his rival Ariel Cardoza by unanimous decision in Binangonan, Rizal on August 8.

Colocado brought Cuambot, one of the only few professional boxers with a college degree, to Jaro after manager and boxer were “shoved away” by a Mandaluyong City-based matchmaker who dis-couraged Colocado from taking in the then 28-year-old former medalist of the national youth amateur boxing championship.

Jaro, for his part, said he took care of Cuambot after he saw he has the potential despite being a “late bloomer.”

Agents Arrest Postal Worker For Passport Application Fraud

A worker from the United States Postal Service Office was arrested by special agents of the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), in conjunction with the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG), for embezzlement of passport application fees.
The suspect was identified as Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres who was nabbed in Puerto Rico on January 22, 2009.

According to the U.S. Postal Service OIG, from May 22 to July 27, 2007, while working as a postal clerk in the branch in Cabo Rojo, Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres received more than forty U.S. passport applications and renewals, along with the required processing fees totaling over $6,000. He is accused of converting those funds for his own use or exchanging that money for other funds or property without authorization. The U.S. Postal Service OIG said Cortes-Mestres failed to account for and turn over those funds to proper officers.

When applicants did not receive the passports they were expecting, they contacted the U.S. Postal Service, which had executed the passport applications. In April 2008, Diplomatic Security Service officials, in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspectors General, interviewed more than twenty applicants who had not received passports.
DSS special agents searched databases and records to locate who had processed the passport applications. In order to prove that Cortes-Mestres had processed all of the victim’s passport ap-plications, DSS special agents provided photo lineups to the victims, which included photos of Cortes-Mestres.

Based on that investigative work, on January 21, 2009 a federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico indicted Arnaldo Cortes-Mestres for mis-appropriation of postal funds. The next day, DSS and OIG agents arrested Cortes-Mestres at his home. DSS special agents assisted in the search of his home and inventory of evidence. That search turned up more than one hundred passport applications and associated birth certificates Cortes-Mestres had hidden.

J. Michael Foster, the Special Agent in Charge of the Diplomatic Security Service’s Miami Field Office said, “The San Juan Resident Office did an outstanding job inves-tigating this case. The apprehension of Cortes-Mestres demonstrated Diplomatic Security’s commitment to main-taining the integrity of the passport and visa process. Passport and visa fraud are serious crimes with substantive national security, economic, and personal consequences.” /MP