Unpaid Debt

Hello po,

Gusto ko lang po sana magtanong regarding sa utang. Meron po kasi nagkakautang sa amin ng 250k with contract and surrendered IDs. The debt hasn't been paid for almost 9 years now, weve already called the attention of the debtor multiple time in barangay and we've already sen't them a Demand Letter which none the less was just all ignored. Kami ay pumayag na magpautang ng ganitong halaga sa kadahilanang nais nila itong gamitin for a loading station business. However, after some time, nalaman namin na wala palang business na nangyari and since then hindi na po namin sila masingil ng kahit na anumang halaga. We then later knew that they were using the money na hiniram nila sa amin as "show money" para makautang pa sa ibang tao po.

Would we have a strong case if we file Estafa for this?
What are the possible scenarios that can partake if we do?
Do we have any other way of collecting our money in terms of collateral dahil sila po ay may maayos na property sa Laguna and even has their own cars and honestly medyo nakakapalan na ako sa muka ng nagkakautang po sa amin.

Your responses and advice would be very much appreciated everyone.

Regards,

Collection case lang ang pwede mo i-file. https://www.alburovillanueva.com/proven-ways-debt-collection Hindi naman sila nagkunwaring meron silang existing business noong mismong panahon na nagutang sila sayo, so mahihirapan kang patunayan ang estafa, lalo na at 9 years na pala ang lumipas mula noong nangyari ito. Pero dapat ka nang magmadali kung gusto mo pang i-enforce ang matter na ito through legal action, dahil 10 years lang ang prescriptive period sa pagfa-file ng action to enforce a contractual obligation (this includes debts incurred through contractual agreements).

Thank you for your response. Does it make a change if, as I seem to have forgotten an important fact that they've been doing the same "modus" to borrow money from other people. We were able to discover other two more people who have happened to have lent them money for the same business alibi. The accused owns another 150k to person 2 and another 50k to person 3, which are all holding written contracts as well.