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Monday, July 11, 2005
NBI asks fiscal to revive case v. anti-vice cop
CONVINCED that the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor erred in dismissing the robbery complaint against one of two policemen who allegedly extorted from suspected drug traders, the NBI 7 is asking that the decision be reconsidered.
In a two-page motion, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), through agent Reynaldo C. Villordon Jr., argued that PO2 Robert Jun Bestil Cuyos should also be charged in court for being a “principal by indispensable cooperation.”
They said PO1 Leo Lapot Batigalao could not have acted alone in extorting money from couple Francisco and Dahlia Nabua.
The City Prosecutor’s Office filed the case against Batigalao but cleared Cuyos of the extortion charge. Both NBI and the prosecution office are under the Department of Justice.
Batigalao and Cuyos, both members of the Cebu City Police Office’s Vice Control Section, reportedly asked the Nabua couple for P200,000, in exchange for not filing an illegal drugs case against Francisco.
After giving P95,000 to the two policemen, the couple said Batigalao and Cuyos again asked for an additional P100,000 to spare Dahlia from the charge.
The two policemen later agreed to just receive P30,000.
Operatives of the NBI arrested the two policemen in an entrapment last June 22.
The City Prosecutor’s Office earlier cleared Cuyos of the complaint, since he was reportedly only accommodating Batigalao to ride his motorcycle when the alleged extortion happened.
It added that Cuyos tested negative of fluorescent powder that would have showed he received money from the couple.
But the NBI said that the absence of fluorescent powder is not relevant because his participation as driver of the motorcycle was indispensable in the commission of the crime.
“(Cuyos’) allegations that he was merely accommodating PO1 Batigalao to ride in his motorcycle is purely evidentiary and should be ventilated in court,” the motion read. GN
(July 11, 2005 issue)
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