A MEMBER of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Central Visayas is facing extortion charges following his arrest in an entrapment operation at Centro, Mandaue City Thursday evening, June 27, 2019.
Members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Provincial Field Unit (CIDG-PFU) Mandaue, Mandaue City Police Station 1 and BFP Central Visayas, led the arrest of Fire Officer 1 (FO1) James Royce Cañete of the Mandaue Fire Station.
The operation was conducted after an applicant named Mark Neal Pancho accused Cañete of fraud when the latter allegedly asked P30,000 from him in exchange for a for a guarantee that he will be admitted to a job.
Recovered from Cañete was the P3,000 marked money and a cellular phone. He was brought to the custody of CIDG Regional Field Unit Central Visayas and is charged of robbery extortion.
Separately, BFP Central Visayas Regional Director Gilbert Dolot said another applicant from Bohol, whom he did not name, filed a formal complaint against a civilian for the same extortion case.
The incident, he said, happened in Negros Oriental last May 11.
Because of the incident, BFP-Central Visayas launched its Oplan Pagasa (Partnership Against Graft and Corruption, A Fire Service Reform Advocacy) last May 21.
Police Regional Office Central Visayas Director Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas said he has already requested the CIDG-Central Visayas to check on the police and identify if the same bribery cases happen in their recruitment process.
However, he said, he does not believe that bribery is rampant in the BFP-Central Visayas.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s just an isolated case,” Sinas said. (SunStar Cebu)