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Saturday, October 23, 2004
DENR land investigator collared by NBI for 'extortion'
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
A SPECIAL investigator of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources-Lands Management Bureau (DENR-LMB) was arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) along Session Road around noon Friday.
This came after he allegedly demanded for P5,000 in "good time" money from a female complainant before he would reportedly finalize a report needed to resolve a two-year old land conflict case involving a disputed parcel of land located along Upper Quezon Hill.
NBI-Cordilleras Regional Director Rickson Chiong identified the arrested DENR-LMB employee as Pedro Tiapong Lomerez, 45, married, an agricultural engineer from Bokod, Benguet, who resides at Tomay, La Trinidad, Benguet. The arrest was effected inside Luisa's Cafe along Session Road at around 12:40 p.m. Friday.
The complainant, on the other hand, was named as Lolyn Rivera Garcia, of legal age, a widowed businesswoman, who lives along Silver Street, Upper Quezon Hill.
Garcia claimed Lomerez was allegedly given an amount of P2,000 sometime last year to fasttrack the resolution of a land conflict case between her aunt and another lot claimant, a neighbor of hers named Araceli Domenden, who now resides abroad, who came back several days ago.
Garcia claimed that she and her brother were reportedly granted a special power-of-attorney by their aunt Jesusa Santos, 51, an overseas Filipino worker based in Japan, to process her Townsite Sales Application over a 428 square-meter lot filed before the DENR-LMB earlier.
"But when I followed up my aunt's TSA at the DENR-LMB office along Diego Silang Street yesterday (Thursday), he (Lomerez) reasoned out he was not able to finish the much-needed report yet because he had a lot of other work to do. However, he said if he would be given time out to relax and have a `good time,' he may be able to finish the report by next week. Immediately, I understood what he meant but I told him that I did not have much cash on me then so I just handed him P500 in the meantime, with the promise that I would encash a check the following day to be able to give him the amount of P5,000 in `good time' money that he wanted," Garcia claimed.
She said since she was in a quandary on what to do since Lomerez' report was badly-needed to resolve the land conflict case in favor of her aunt and since the other lot claimant had already returned to the country, she decided to seek the assistance of the NBI then.
An entrapment operation was then planned.
After she reportedly called Lomerez to set up a lunch appointment at the said restaurant, she and a team of NBI agents proceeded there a few minutes before noon, followed by their subject minutes later.
Meanwhile, Lomerez said he was "bribed" because he never demanded any amount of money from the complainant.
"All I know is that she invited me to join her for lunch, and even when she instructed me to get the envelope that she slipped towards me afterwards, I did not even want to touch it because it is against my principles to accept money from land applicants," Lomerez said.
Other DENR-LMB personnel, who followed Lomerez to the NBI-CAR office Friday, said they were shocked to find out that he was arrested for allegedly demanding money from a client.
Chiong, on the other hand, said "this should serve as a warning to other government employees to remain honest and dedicated in rendering public service. I also appeal to the public to take immediate action and report similar incidents of this kind to us so that we may also respond accordingly."
Charges were being prepared for filing against Lomerez for his alleged violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law as of presstime.
(October 23, 2004 issue)
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