Police probe IDMB official for firing gun

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A TAXI blocked his way, so he fired a warning shot, thinking it was an ambush.

Chief Insp. George Ylanan, Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB) head, said he should not be under investigation because his training taught him to react the way he did under such circumstances.

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"Ako ang (I’m the) hero, dili ang (not the) villain," Ylanan said.

But Luciano Pilayo, 38, driver of a Lona Taxi, said it was the police official who blocked his way.

The taxi driver said he feared for his life when Ylanan opened fire using a baby Armalite, a Sun.Star Superbalita report stated.

Entrapment

In another incident, the IDMB arrested a woman, who had filed a complaint against one of its own operatives, in an entrapment operation last Friday afternoon.

PO3 Richard Cyril Valencia alleged that Lyzanne Labiste, 23, asked him for money in exchange for withdrawing the abuse of authority complaint she filed against him.

In the morning of the same day, Ylanan was on his way home to his house in a subdivision in Cebu City when Pilayo’s taxi blocked his car in Barangay Tisa.

Thinking it was an ambush, he called the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG). When the MPG team arrived, he approached the taxi and ordered Pilayo to drop to the ground.

But the taxi driver reportedly ran away, so Ylanan fired a warning shot with his automatic rifle.

Complaint

Senior Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Cebu City Police Office (CPPO) director, said he will order an investigation on the incident once Pilayo files a formal complaint.

Pilayo, a resident of Barangay Inayawan, could also file a complaint against Ylanan before the Internal Affairs Service office.

Ylanan said Pilayo was arrested by MPG personnel inside the Tisa barangay hall.

Ylanan also called up the City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) and the Cebu City Traffic Division, which issued Pilayo a ticket for reckless driving. Citom also towed Pilayo’s taxi.

He said he had the incident recorded in the blotter of the Traffic Division.

Money

But Tisa barangay tanod Julito Demegillo said the barangay does not have a record of the incident.

In the entrapment operation, Valencia alleged that Labiste, a resident of Green Village in Barangay Gua-dalupe, initially demanded P70,000 from him but was persuaded to reduce the amount to P20,000 later.

Valencia said Labiste sent him text messages demanding for money last April 28.

Last week, Labiste accused Valencia of pointing a gun at her face while he and his fellow IDMB operatives were looking for a suspect in her house.

In their joint affidavit, the IDMB said Valencia handed an envelope containing buy-bust money, dusted with ultraviolet powder, to Labiste at 2:30 p.m., near the Guadalupe barangay hall.

But after accepting the envelope, Labiste reportedly didn’t count the money. She then went back inside the barangay hall where IDMB operatives arrested her.

Labiste told GMA News that the entrapment was Valencia’s way of getting back at her for filing the abuse of authority complaint.