Mandaluyong cops deny extortion raps

Three Mandaluyong City policemen who were arrested Wednesday by agents of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) for allegedly extorting P150,000 from a relative of a jailed drug pusher, vehemently denied the charges against them.

SPO3 Rodel Castalone, PO1 Salvador del Mundo and PO1 Jefferson Gonzales made the denial to Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, Mandaluyong City police chief.

Velasquez rushed to the AID-SOTF headquarters at Camp Crame to have a lengthy talk with the three officers and errand boy Dennis Soriano, who yielded the P20,000 marked money during an entrapment operation the other day.

Meanwhile, the Mandaluyong City police rank-and-file denounced the Gestapo-like raid conducted by the AID-SOTF, which they said was done without proper coordination from officials of the Eastern Police District (EPD).

In his report to EPD director Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, Velasquez said AID-SOTF agents stormed the station and proceeded directly to the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) office, kicked the door open and pointed their guns at the people inside.

The raiders were in police uniform and in civilian clothes. One of those armed with a long firearm was a certain PO1 Ballesteros.

Castalone was talking to a civilian when he was arrested while Del Mundo was preparing a request for a laboratory examination of an arrested drug suspect when collared. Gonzales said the only reason he was arrested was that he was inside the DEU office when the raiders came.

The raid almost resulted to a mis-encounter because AID-SOTF agents failed to coordinate their operation.

"The purpose of the operation might outweigh the resulting accomplishment if unwarranted casualties occur. It may totally tear down not only the affected unit, but the entire PNP organization," Velasquez said.

In his talk with AID-SOTF officials, the police chief raised the possibility that the complainant, a certain Alicia Lloret, concocted the extortion story to destroy the credibility of the arresting officers.

Velasquez alleged that Lloret was an identified drug pusher in the city and charged with at least five drug cases pending before the Regional Trial Court (RTC).

AID-SOTF officers claimed Lloret approached them for help after the DEU operatives allegedly demanded P50,000 for the release of her arrested son and non-filing of drug possession charges.

Soriano accepted the marked money from Lloret.

AID-SOTF agents stormed the DEU office and arrested the three policemen, who allegedly ordered Soriano to receive the money from Lloret. Soriano was found positive for ultra-violet powder.

The raiders admitted that the marked money was never handed over to any of the arrested police officers and that they relied solely on the statement of the complainant.

While he is not tolerating any wrongdoing by his men, Velasquez is conducting a thorough investigation of the incident "to ferret out the truth regarding the raid."