Anti-kotong drive snares inspector

A police inspector and five traffic enforcers were arrested last Monday in separate operations, part of the intensified anti-kotong (mulcting) campaign of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

The arrest of Inspector Hoover Pascual, a team leader of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOT Force) of the Eastern Police District (EPD), along with Menandro Olpindo, 44; Rolando Rivera, 40; Rizalde Olino, 36; Antonio Loreno, 27, and Reynaldo Viray, 44; 35, brought to 54 the number of policemen and traffic enforcers arrested since NCRPO chief Director Ricardo de Leon launched the anti-kotong drive last December.

"Our campaign against rogue cops will continue despite opposition by a small number of misguided policemen in our ranks," said De Leon referring to a white paper allegedly circulated by the Manila’s Finest denouncing him for calling traffic enforcers "kotong" cops.

De Leon said Pascual was arrested by the men of Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, EPD director, at the parking lot of a shopping center in Mandaluyong City after receiving P40,000 in exchange for the release of a Nissan Cefiro he seized from three suspected drug peddlers in Pasig last April 15.

Pascual allegedly released the three suspects after they came up with the cash. However, he demanded another P50,000 for the release of the vehicle which was lowered later to P40,000 after a series of negotiations.

Valenzuela said Pascual yielded the marked money when he and his companion, Valentine Naros, 22, were arrested in an entrapment operation last Monday.

"He invoked his constitutional right to remain silent when I confronted him of the charges against him," Valenzuela said.

Valenzuela ordered the filing of unlawful arrest, car theft and robbery- extortion charges against Pascual before the Pasig City prosecutor’s office.

Three hours after Pascual’s arrest, elements of the NCRPO Counter Intelligence and Security Unit (CISU), headed by Superintendent Renato Gumban, arrested Olpindo and Rivera, both enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, for extorting P700 from a motorist.

Gumban said Olpindo and Rivera flagged down the motorist for using an improvised plate and brought him inside a fastfood restaurant located in Caloocan City, where the negotiations for the return of his driver’s license and the non-issuance of a traffic violation receipt (TVR) took place.

Unknown to the two MMDA traffic enforcers, Gumban deployed CISU operatives in the area a month ago amid complaints of rampant extortion activities by traffic policemen manning the area.

Gumban said Olpindo, Loreno and Viray were arrested after they flagged down and extorted P100 from CISU operative SPO3 Danilo Anselmo in Ermita for a traffic violation. Viray yielded a marked P100 bill.