POLICE arrested yesterday the woman suspected of sending a letter about a supposed bomb threat against the salas of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judges Teresita Galanida and Soliver Peras.
But Erlinda Cagata, 44, denied writing that letter and said she did not know any Celing Toleron, the letter-writer who claimed to be married to a leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Acting Mandaue City Director Vicente Mersan Premne arrested Cagata yesterday, using a warrant issued by Galanida, for failing to attend her estafa case scheduled at 8:30 a.m. yesterday. Cagata reportedly arrived late.
How did the police link her to the letter? Premne explained that the head of a branch of the LBC courier service recognized Cagata as the one who mailed the two letters addressed to the two judges last Oct. 8.
Now that Cagata is in their custody, the police are preparing grave threats charges against her as soon as they consolidate the evidence and affidavits of two complainants, Peras and Galanida.
Cagata had earlier submitted a bond of P20,000 for the estafa case she faces at Galanida’s sala. The other case is for the issuance of a bad check.
She remained in police custody last night.
Despite the arrest, Premne said the tight security at the Palace of Justice will stay in place and that they will still check Cagata’s background.
The operations chief, Senior Insp. Alfredo Ortiz, said the police traced the suspect because the envelope had an LBC sticker that listed the branch where it was mailed.
Police also examined the cases Galanida and Peras handled, and found out that Cagata has cases in both salas. In the letter, the bombing was supposed to be carried out on Oct. 14. Cagata had a scheduled hearing that day in Galanida’s sala.
When they viewed Cagata’s picture in her bailbond record, the police noticed it matched the witness’ description. Shown the same picture, the witness identified Cagata as the sender.
A police team was ready to go to Labangon yesterday morning if Cagata failed to attend her hearing. She came in late.
They then brought the witness to the sala and secretly made him view Cagata. Again, he confirmed it was her.
As she was on her way out of the palace after the hearing, Cagata was arrested by Premne at 11:45 a.m.
The suspect denied writing the letter or knowing Toleron, and said that her husband is not an MILF member but was recently laid off from work.
At the Marcelo Fernan Palace of Justice in Cebu City, people were oblivious to the bomb threat. But this was no reason to be complacent, said building administrator Henry Espinosa.
Espinosa said he spoke with Acting RTC Executive Judge Silvestre Maamo Jr., who reminded him to always tighten security in the building that houses the Cebu City RTCs, Municipal Trial Court in Cities, Offices of the Cebu City and Provincial Prosecutor, Regional State Prosecutor’s Office, Department of Justice Marshall, Registry of Deeds and others.
“We employ the same measures. We have never been complacent in our security policy,” Espinosa told Sun.Star Cebu in Bisaya.
He also said he was not alarmed by the threat because of the already tight security at the palace.
Last year, the Palace of Justice implemented a color-coded ID system that limits the area where visitors can roam.
Each of the four floors of the building has a corresponding ID color. A visitor can only stay on the floor indicated by the color of his/her palace-issued identification card.
This scheme was implemented last year after an attempted theft incident at the sala of retired judge Fortunato de Gracia Jr.
The bomb threat is also not the first for the Palace of Justice. Espinosa remembered there have been at least three bomb threats in recent years. All three happened to be hoaxes. (OCP/JGA)
