6 Caloocan cops face kidnap charges

Six policemen from the Northern Police District (NPD) were indicted in a kidnap-for-ransom case by Department of Justice which found them criminally liable for the alleged abduction and extortion of three jewel traders in Caloocan last Sept. 11.

State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco recommended "no bail" in filing of charges against Chief Inspector Michael Bernardo Martin, Inspector Allanjing Medina, PO3 Arnold Asis, PO2s Pedro Gutierrez, Antonio Berida Jr. and Nilo Ignacio de Paz.

The six cops, all assigned at the NPD’s District Police Intelligence Unit, are now facing kidnap-ransom charges at the regional trial court of Manila. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to death.

In his six-page resolution, Velasco stated that the policemen offered no credible evidence that could clear them in the accusations made by Maca-Angcos Alawiya, Isagani Abdul and Zarah Langco who said the policemen kidnapped them for money. The cops had earlier claimed that the complainants were "drug dealers."

"Complainants and their witness gave a straightforward and unequivocal account of the kidnap for ransom incident worthy of belief. Uncorroborated denial, after all, is a negative assertion that is inferior to positive declarations," he wrote.

Reports said the NPD cops abducted the three complainants at UN Avenue in Manila and booked them at the NPD in Caloocan instead of the nearby Western Police District (WPD), contrary to police procedures.

On the day the complainants were kidnapped, the cops allegedly demanded P10 million from the complainants but this was reduced to P700,000 with two vehicles: a Toyata FX and Mitsubishi Adventure. — Delon Porcalla