Monday, November 20, 2006 Police arrests 2 radio block-timers for extortion, guns By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Aledel G. Cuizon
POLICE arrested two block-time radio broadcasters yesterday for alleged extortion and illegal possession of firearms in Barangay Mantuyong, Mandaue City.
Roberto Juanico, who is also known as Bobby J., and Ruperto Navasca will also likely face a charge of usurpation of authority for allegedly claiming to be members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).
Juanico and Navasca, now detained at the CIDG 7 stockade at Camp Sotero Cabahug, refused to comment when Sun.Star Cebu tried to get their side of the story yesterday afternoon.
Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas Cebu Chapter president Edward Abad, in a text message sent to Sun.Star Cebu, said that Juanico and Navasca are both block-time broadcasters of radio station DyKC.
Chief Insp. Fermin Armendarez III, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team (CIDT) in Cebu, said the two were arrested at 4 p.m. after the police received a telephone call about their alleged illegal activity.
According to the information, the two men allegedly claimed to be CIDG 7 operatives, which astonished Armendarez because there was no operation by the police agency at that time in Mandaue City.
Armendarez said that Juanico and Navasca allegedly flagged down a truckload of rice and tried to extort money from the female owner, despite being shown the proper documents.
Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano will send a lawyer to assist City Hall consultant Juanico and Navasca. Ouano said that the two might have been too aggressive in pursuing information they gathered, but that they are not extortionists.
The mayor said Juanico’s son went to him yesterday and asked for help.
Juanico is a consultant for the City’s anti-illegal drug campaign. He is the director of the Total Eradication of Drug Dependency Board, of which Navasca is a member.
Navasca is president of the Parents-Teachers’ Community Association of the Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School. Ouano said the two are active in the City’s anti-drug campaign.
Juanico and Navasca’s arrest occurred more than a month after block-time broadcasters Reynante Cortez and Lito Solon were arrested in an entrapment by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7.
The two had allegedly extorted and received money from Undersecretary Elberto Emphasis of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
Complaint
Cortez and Solon, who are out on bail, claimed they were victims of a frame-up and filed counter-charges against Emphasis.
For her part, the businesswoman who owns the truck that Juanico and Navasca allegedly stopped is expected to visit the CIDG 7 today to file a complaint and execute an affidavit against the two block-timers.
When they arrived in Mantuyong, Juanico and Navasca, this time, allegedly claimed to be members of the Maritime Police.
Armendarez said that the two, however, failed to show identification cards to prove it.
“That’s when they described themselves as mere assets of the agency,” Armendarez said.
Armendarez said they also found out that Juanico and Navasca were both armed with .45 pistols.
The firearms were licensed, but Juanico and Navasca failed to present permits authorizing them to carry their firearms outside their homes.
Armendarez said he was not aware that the two worked in the media industry, although one of the suspects presented an identification card marked “Press.”
