STAR’s series on bribery wins top prize in CMMA

The Star’s investigative report on the bribery by 12 police officials, including the commander of the Anonas Police Station of the Central Police District, bested four other finalists in last Saturday night’s Catholic Mass Media Awards in Quezon City. The series of articles by The STAR reporter Christina Mendez against the 12 policemen led by dismissed Superintendent Francisco Ovilla caught the attention of ranking QC police officials and Quezon City Rep. Michael Defensor, who in turn called for an inquiry. The exposé was first revealed to The STAR by one of the two whistle-blowers, Senior Police Officer 2 Wilfredo Gonzales, sometime on August last year.

Gonzales’ revelations started the series of investigation by the Congress and the police, resulting in the detention of all 12 policemen at the Quezon City Jail for the non-bailable offense.

Likewise, the charges for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, bribery and obstruction to justice were filed against the 12 accused before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The cases are now pending at the Quezon City regional trial court branch 96 judge Diosdado Peralta.

The charges stemmed from Ovilla and his men’s acceptance of some P150,000 bribe money from two Taiwanese druglords, they arrested during a buybust operation at the SM City on August last year.

According to Gonzales, Ovilla and his men also received several kilos of shabu and at least two brand new Honda Civic cars from the Taiwanese druglords in exchange for their releases.

Gonzales’ colleague SPO3 Rey Resurreccion, corroboratd his statement before the police. The Star lamented though that Gonzales’ bravery remained unrecognized by the PNP hierarchy under Director Panfilo Lacson.

Because of the expose, Ovilla and his men were dismissed from the rolls of the PNP.