3 gov’t employees nabbed for documents falsification

THE police have arrested three people, including two City Government employees, for 20-count falsification of public documents, a top police official said.

Arrested were retired City Government employee Vicente Dagalea, Ofelia Raz, and Pilardo Francisco, both personnel of the City Government’s Tricycle Adjudication Board (TAB), said Zamboanga City police officer-in-charge Edwin de Ocampo.

Dagalea was arrested in his residence while Raz and Francisco were nabbed at the TAB office in City Hall, Senior Superintendent De Ocampo said.

They were arrested on the strength of warrants of arrest issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12 Judge Gregorio Dela Peña with recommended bail of P24,000 for each count and for every accused, De Ocampo said.
The cases against the suspects stemmed for their alleged involvement in the issuance of fake tricycle franchises in exchange for a fee ranging from P4,000 to P10,000 per franchise, he said.

Councilor Luis Biel III, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Franchise, said that 20 tricycle owners have filed case against them after their franchises have been doubled or even tripled in exchange for huge sum of money.

Biel said the City Council, through an ordinance, had already revoked the issuance of new tricycle franchises to stop the mushrooming of the three-wheeled vehicle from plying the overcrowded city streets.

However, Biel said that despite the stop in the issuance of franchise, the tricycles have proliferated from 4,000 to 8,000 due to the scam.

Police Station 6 commander Chief Inspector Elmer Acuña said the suspects were detained at his headquarters pending commitment order from the court. (Bong Garcia)