Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Case filed v. CIDG man caught in entrapment
A CRIMINAL case for direct bribery was filed yesterday against a Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) policeman caught receiving money in an entrapment.
Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Santiago approved the findings of Graft Investigator Sarah Jo Vergara who found probable cause to indict SPO4 Reynaldo Matillano before the Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Vergara and Santiago gave credence to the allegation raised in the complaint-affidavit of Ronnie Bacus Hernani, who said Matillano and some of his colleagues at the CIDG have been extorting money from him since they arrested him for illegal possession of firearms last March 9.
Five other CIDG policeman, one of them a police lieutenant, also face preliminary investigation and administrative adjudication at the anti-graft office for their alleged role in the alleged extortion.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) impleaded them when it filed the complaint against Matillano before the anti-graft office.
They are identified as Police Inspector Elmer Roberto Balaba, SPO4 Rodrigo Perez, SPO2 Edgar Perea, SPO2 Redro Tan and PO3 Artemio Tumakay.
The anti-graft office set bail at P24,000 but Matillano, who was accompanied by lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva when brought to the Palace of Justice late yesterday afternoon, was not able to post it.
Another night
Hence, the policeman, who has been under NB) detention since his entrapment and arrest last Friday, was to spend another night in jail. In an interview, he said he’ll post bail today.
In the information submitted to the trial court, the anti-graft office charged Matillano with demanding “P15,000 (the entrapment money) from one Ronnie B. Hernani, with the promise that the accused would cause the dropping and/or dismissal of a case against (him.)”
According to the information, Matillano’s act constituted dereliction of duty and is a separate crime under Art. 208 of the Revised Penal Code.
Hernani, in the complaint-affidavit subscribed before lawyer Ernesto Macabare, the NBI 7 executive officer, accused Matillano, Balaba, Perez, Perea, Tan and Tumakay of extortion.
In an interview, he said the policemen asked money in several occasions between March 9, when he got arrested for firearm possession, and March 13, when he was finally released.
Hernani was arrested while making his exit from the Garden Bloom Acres Subdivision in Consolacion, Cebu, where he had a meeting with a client.
The subdivision security guard, he surmised, must have seen the firearm he had on the glove compartment of his car and alerted Matillano, a resident of the subdivision.
Licensed
He said the gun was licensed under the PNP amnesty program. He said he paid all the charges and added that the unit has already undergone ballistic testing and recording. He only needed to wait for the arrival of the plastic license card.
He said he tried to explain this to the policemen but they took him into custody while searching his car without a warrant.
After the recovery of the gun, he said he wasn’t brought to the CIDG headquarters in Gorordo Avenue but was instead escorted to Matillano’s house where the other co-respondents were drinking.
In his affidavit, Hernani alleged that while there, the group asked him for P100,000 in exchange for not filing any charges.
He said he was brought to the CIDG headquarters, where he said he was detained from the 9th to the 12th, when he said he didn’t have money. It was a Sunday.
While in prison, he said, Perea came to him and repeated the demand of P100,000 in exchange for not filing any charges. Eventually, he said, the policeman agreed to reduce the amount to P70,000, which he paid in the presence of his wife, Pinky.
Hernani said he was brought to the Palace of Justice the following day, March 10, 2008, where he was supposedly introduced to Salva, who was to represent him.
He said Matillano then asked him to produce P20,000 for the inquest prosecutor. He said his wife gave P15,000 to Matillano, who was also given the balance last March 12. (KNR)
