Wednesday, February 13, 2008 4 raps await Cebu City cop in extort try
THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday filed charges against the Cebu City traffic policeman arrested in an entrapment while allegedly demanding money from the representative of a man taken into custody.
Atty. Rennan Oliva, NBI supervising agent, said the charges included violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and two provisions of the Revised Penal Code.
NBI operatives arrested PO3 Romeo Cabrera, a member of the Cebu City Police Office but assigned to the City Traffic Operations and Management (Citom) inside a fast-food outlet along Leon Kilat St. last Monday afternoon.
According to Almar Cabahug, Cabrera allegedly demanded P50,000 and a date from her after he arrested her boyfriend, identified as Patrick Tambog, over a vehicular accident.
Cabrera was assigned to the Security and Service Group, while he faces criminal and administrative investigations.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador said he transferred Cabrera, as soon as he learned about the arrest. He also said the CCPO will support the NBI 7 in its investigation.
Dishonesty
Vice Mayor Michael Rama called Cabrera’s alleged action “highly reprehensible” and has asked that the policeman be removed from the service.
“That is dishonesty. For me, it’s an embarrassment to the men in uniform. Let us not let this pass unpunished, if proven to be true,” said Rama, who heads the Cebu City Police Coordinating and Advisory Council, a policy-making body of the local police.
As an offshoot to the controversy, Comendador created an oversight committee headed by CCPO deputy director for operations Pablo Labra II to track all traffic-related incidents handled by the traffic section.
Oliva, in an interview yesterday, said the complaint was lodged as an inquest proceeding at the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. If upgraded, it will become a formal criminal and administrative case.
Attached, as part of the evidence in the complaint signed by NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos, was the affidavit complaint and supplemental affidavit from Cabahug and the joint affidavit of the arresting officers.
Negotiated
In her affidavit, Cabahug said that Cabrera took her boyfriend, Tambog, into custody and impounded his vehicle after he accidentally hit a jeepney along Parian St. at 1 p.m. last Feb. 8.
She said she went to the Citom office at 5 p.m. of the same day, where she met Cabrera. He informed her that he was filing eight different cases against Tambog unless she could come up with P50,000.
She said she attempted to negotiate for a lower amount, worried after being told by Cabrera that the total accumulated bail amount would reach P200,000 if the case were to be filed.
Cabrera, she said, appeared amenable for so long as she went out on a date with him.
“I went there on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. I saw my boyfriend handcuffed and was able to (negotiate that the amount be reduced) to P30,000, but he (Cabrera) wanted me to go with him for a date and he started courting me,” she said.
Upon the advice of a friend, she went to a radio station and was taken to the NBI office for the filing of a formal complaint.
Command
De Lemos, a lawyer, said they planned an entrapment in response to the complaint and prepared P10,000 in marked bills.
They then had Cabahug, on the pretext of agreeing to the supposed payoff, contact Cabrera and tell him that she had the money ready.
De Lemos said the agents went to the scene undercover and waited for the marked money to be handed over before taking Cabrera into custody.
For his part, Comendador said that Cabrera had been a member of the miscellaneous team at the San Nicolas Police Station but was transferred to the Traffic Section, on suspicion that he was involved in extortion and other illegal activities.
“But no formal investigation was then conducted on him because there were no complainants,” Comendador said.
Comendador said that under the principle of command responsibility, he also ordered Chief Insp. Jonathan Abella, traffic section chief, to explain Cabrera’s action.
“This is a very important matter to me,” he said, adding that all the 11 station commanders and special unit chiefs will also be required to do the same if one of their operatives is arrested for extortion and other illegal activities.
There are two sets of investigators at the traffic section. One is tasked to investigate vehicular or traffic-related cases. The other one takes care of related cases, if the person is found to be a robbery suspect or in possession of illegal drugs.
Because of this, Comendador ordered Abella to focus on the traffic section’s mandate of investigating traffic-related cases.
Cases that involve robbery or drugs should be turned over either to the Theft and Robbery Section or the City Anti-illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, Comendador said. (KNR/JST/RHM)
