Three of the five police officers implicated in a robbery-extortion of a computer shop in Sampaloc, Manila surrendered on Monday afternoon. The three surrenderers included Cpl. Jonmark Gonzales Dabucol, and Patrolmen Jeremiah Sesma Pascual and John Lester Reyes Pagar. They surrendered to Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Executive Director Gilbert Cruz at Camp Crame in Quezon City. The two other suspects, Staff Sgts. Ryann Tagle Paculan and Jan Erwin Santiago Isaac, are still at-large. All five are members of the Manila Police District’s District Police Intelligence Operations Unit (MPD-DPIOU). Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. earlier ordered the intelligence group and the anti-scalawag units to assist the MPD in arresting the suspects. In a press briefing held at Camp Crame on Monday, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Acorda is expecting that the five Manila cops would be accounted for this week, especially since they were already declared AWOL (absent without official leave). ‘Our Chief PNP has already instructed the Intelligence Group (IG) and the IMEG (Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group) to help in the conduct of the manhunt operation against these five policemen,’ Fajardo said. ‘Hopefully, there would be positive results this week and the District Director of MPD, Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon, is also confident that with the help of the IG and IMEG, they would be able to get them,’ she added. Fajardo said criminal and administrative charges were already slapped against the five policemen. ‘Kung natatandaan niyo yung sinabi ng Chief PNP before, for those PNP personnel who will be reported involved in any illegal drug activities, hindi lamang sila ang iimbestigahan, pati na rin yung kanilang team leader, ‘yung immediate supervisor up to the station commanders. Kung may makikita na failure on the part of their chief of police ay magkakaroon ng sanction ito (If you remember what the Chief PNP said before, for PNP personnel who will be reported involved in any illegal drug activities, not only will they be investigated, but their team leader as well, including their immediate supervisor up to the station commanders. If there is a failure on the part of their chief of police, he will be sanctioned) under the doctrine of command responsibility,’ Fajaro said. She added that the MPD also sent cops to the victim for security measures. ‘We are calling on these five policemen to surrender to their immediate supervisor and face the charges,’ Fajardo said. The involvement of the five in the incident would also result in the relief of around 50 policemen assigned to the DPIOU, including its head. ‘I understand they will be replaced, including their chief, because they were ordered to explain on how these five policemen were able to conduct robbery extortion activities under their noses,’ Fajardo added. According to the PNP, the five cops were allegedly caught in closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage as they forcibly entered a computer shop in Barangay 525 on the night of July 11, and introduced themselves as police personnel conducting an operation against illegal gambling. The five then allegedly accused 73-year-old Herminigildo dela Cruz, the owner of the computer shop, of being involved in an illegal gambling den before they took the shop’s earnings from a drawer amounting to PHP44,000. They also did not present any search warrant and were in plain clothes, according to the PNP. The suspects allegedly demanded from the shop owner a weekly ‘protection money’ of PHP4,000 just to continue the shop’s operation. Police are also investigating an alias ‘Menay,’ who allegedly acted as an accomplice of the suspects.
Source: Philippines News Agency