Manila City Hall extort suspect falls

Mayor Lito Atienza and operatives of the Western Police District Special Operations Group apprehended an employee of the City Assessor’s Office of Manila yesterday after he was caught receiving P15,000 from a businessman he was extorting money from.

Rey Glefaldeo was nabbed inside his office in an entrapment organized by Atienza after he received a complaint that Glefaldeo was demanding money in exchange for lowering the tax assessment of machinery owned by a businessman.

The businessman, who asked not to be identified, reported that he was about to pay the tax due on an equipment when Glefaldeo approached him and offered to arrange a lower tax assessment in exchange for P80,000. After much haggling, the suspect lowered the amount to P33,000, but warned that he would make life difficult for the businessman if he did not get the money by yesterday.

Atienza convinced the businessman to cooperate and at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, a decoy pretending to be the businessman’s emissary proceeded to the office of Glefaldeo.

As soon as Glefaldeo received the money from the decoy, Atienza swooped in with the police operatives led by Senior Inspector Arnold Abad and arrested the suspect.

Atienza declared that Glefaldeo’s arrest should serve as a strong warning to city officials and employees. I assure you of immediate and prompt action on our part," said Atienza.

Glefaldeo, who has been employed at the Manila City Hall for eighteen years, will be charged with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.