Four Makati City policemen were arrested Tuesday night after abducting a couple and demanding P400,000 for their release.
Superintendent Jenny Tecson, Southern Police District (SPD) public information officer, identified the four cops – all members of the intelligence unit – as PO2 Harley Garcera, PO2 Clarence Maynes, PO1 Tim Santos, and PO1 Jeffrey Cañete.
Four other suspects, including another cop and a retired police officer, are being hunted, according to the police spokesperson.
Tecson also announced the relief of Makati police chief Senior Superintendent Dionisio Bartolome and Chief Inspector Oscar Pagulayan of the Makati police station Intelligence Branch pending the results of the investigation.
According to the report of the Philippine National Police-Counter Intelligence Task Force (PNP-CITF), the four suspects, in civilian clothes, barged into the bicycle shop of the victims in Merville, Parañaque City last Monday and introduced themselves as policemen.
The victims, whose identities were withheld, were ordered to board a black vehicle where four other suspects were waiting.
The shop owner and his girlfriend were brought to a depot on Pasong Tamo Extension in Quezon City where the suspects demanded P400,000 for their release.
The victims were released after giving P100,000 with the understanding that another P100,000 will be handed over the next day.
The suspects warned the couple that they would kill all the members of their families if they fail to pay the balance.
The couple sought the help of the PNP-CITF which set up the entrapment operation at the corner of Merville Axis Road and Kalayaan Road at 11 p.m. Tuesday.
The four suspects did not resist when police operatives arrested them. They were brought to the SPD Personnel Administration holding office along with their superior Pagulayan.
The relief of the Makati police chief came barely three months after he replaced Senior Supt. Milo Pagtalunan who was removed from his post for a series of unsolved robbery-holdup incidents in the city.
Tecson said SPD director Chief Superintendent Tomas Apolinario has expressed sadness with the alleged involvement of four Makati policemen in illegal activities and has vowed not to tolerate wrongdoings.
“He (Apolinario) assured that with the reinforced PNP’s internal cleansing strategy, personnel of SPD who will be involved in illicit activities will face the full force of the law,” she added. (MARTIN SADONGDONG)