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Thursday, August 14, 2003
Anti-vice cop entrapped
By Garry Cabotaje
With Minerva B. Gerodias & Aledel G. Cuizon
CEBU -- The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 believes other policemen may have also been involved when PO3 Paquito Flores Monterroyo Jr. extorted P300,000 from a trader in Lapu-Lapu City last Sunday.
The NBI 7 agents arrested Monterroyo, a member of the Cebu City Police Office’s (CCPO) Vice Control Section (VCS), during an entrapment in Gaisano Mactan about 11:30 a.m. last Tuesday.
NBI 7 Acting Director Reynaldo Esmeralda said he will recommend to CCPO Chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo a police lineup so the complainant, Meno Disomundeg, could identify other policemen who may have taken part in the extortion.
The entrapment stemmed from Disomundeg’s complaint that he had to cough up P18,000 and 3,000 yen after Monterroyo and his companions accused him of being involved in the illegal drugs trade.
About seven or eight people, who introduced themselves as Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 operatives, accosted Disomundeg while he was about to enter the garage of his house in Camella Homes, Lapu-Lapu City past 2 a.m. last Aug. 9.
But Monterroyo said Disomundeg, whom he identified as a drug dealer, had framed him.
According to the NBI 7, Monterroyo’s hands were positive of fluorescent powder from the marked money.
The NBI filed two counts of extortion and two counts of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against Monterroyo before the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office.
Monterroyo said the VCS has pre-operation information on his dealing with Disomundeg.
The Regional Internal Affairs Service 7 will investigate on its own Monterroyo’s possible administrative liability.
Monterroyo still has six administrative cases before the Peoples Law Enforcement Board (Pleb) in Mandaue City for grave misconduct, abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming and perjury. He also has an arbitrary detention case before the Ombudsman Military.
But Monterroyo said four of the six cases at Pleb and the ombudsman case have already been dismissed.
When Sun.Star checked, at least three complaints—two for grave misconduct and one for misconduct—are still pending. The cases were endorsed to the Pleb in 1999 and 2000.
In the entrapment, the NBI 7 said the group demanded money from Disomundeg and also threatened to plant 200 grams of shabu if he would not yield to their demand.
“We were really surprised when we found out that Monterroyo is a police officer. We thought that the group we were dealing with were criminal elements who used to extort money from businessmen,” said Esmeralda, who presented the policeman in a press conference Wednesday.
They knew that Monterroyo was indeed a police officer after they recovered his three police identification cards.
Crying foul over his arrest, Monterroyo said Mindanao locals in the drug trafficking business got mad at him after he arrested several of them in previous anti-drugs operation.
“This is unfair, I am only my doing my job and yet they are treating me like this,” said the 35-year-old Monterroyo, even as he pleaded the PNP organization to help him.
Monterroyo, who has been in the service for 16 years, said he would resign from the service if VCS chief Marvin Sanchez denies that there was no prior clearance for him to conduct a pre-operation.
Police officials confirmed Monterroyo made a pre-operation report before he left the VCS office to go after Disomundeg.
In the pre-op report dated Aug. 12, it was stated that Disomundeg is into illegal drug activities and distributes in Cebu City and province.
The report was signed by CCPO chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo, Sanchez and Monterroyo himself.
Sandalo and Sanchez said they will just let the investigation take its course. Sandalo, though, will do his own fact-finding investigation to determine what actually happened.
Disomundeg was reported to be a big-time drug trader who distributes drugs in Cebu City and province.
Sanchez said Disomundeg is not in their watch list of drug personalities, but last month they received information about him being a big-time pusher.
Because of this, they made a pre-operation plan and Monterroyo worked on the operation against Disomundeg, who, unknown to the policeman, had complained to the NBI.
The NBI 7 set the entrapment after Monterroyo allegedly called up Disomundeg again and demanded another P300,000 last Monday, purportedly to clear the businessman’s derogatory records in Camp Crame.
After a brief negotiation, the amount was reduced to P200,000 and both agreed to make the pay-off at Gaisano-Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City. Sun.Star Cebu
(August 13, 2003 issue)
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