SPD chief sacks 8 anti-drug cops over extort case

Southern Police District (SPD) director Senior Superintendent Ricardo Padilla has ordered the relief of eight members of its anti-illegal drugs unit after they were accused of trying to extort a huge amount of money from a Japanese businessman in Pasay City more than a week ago.

Padilla identified the officers as Chief Inspector Vicente Raquion and his team, which includes SPO1 Delfin Macario, PO3 Rodolfo Garcia, PO3 Felix Mayuga, PO3 Cirilo Zamora, PO3 Dionisio Gastanes, PO2 Roberto Jovenir and PO2 Bernard Cobero of the District’s Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operation Task Force (DAID-SOTF).

A report submitted by Superintendent Michael Filart, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region to the SPD, noted the policemen conducted a buy-bust operation in Pasay last Sept. 8, at around 10 p.m.

However, instead of arresting five suspected drug pushers, the officers allegedly apprehended Masajuki Suzuki for possession of illegal drugs.

The report said the team asked P3 million from the Japanese businessman. He was released only after he agreed to pay Raquion’s team P3 million.

Suzuki reported the incident to a friend, a policeman formerly assigned with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. The officer accompanied him to the SPD.

Administrative and criminal charges are being readied against Raquion and his men, who are now detained at the District Inspectorate Unit.

Chief Inspector Tito Oraya, action officer of DAID-SOTF and Superintendent Perfecto Ramos Marin, DAID chief, are also being investigated, Filart said.

Filart said Oraya and Marin were the ones who signed the order for the team to conduct the buy-bust operation in Pasay.

The group had been tasked to arrest five suspected drug pushers.

Meanwhile, some 48 Manila policemen are now facing summary dismissal proceedings for being absent without official leave (AWOL), Manila Police District (MPD) acting director Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa announced yesterday.

The names of the erring policemen, which include movie actor-turned policeman SPO4 Jovit Moya, were turned over to the regional investigation division of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), which has jurisdiction over abusive cops in Metro Manila, Abarzosa added.

Moya, who used to head the MPD’s Trackers Unit, is reportedly now based in the US.

"The MPD can only recommend its members for dismissal, while the RD (regional director) has the authority to dismiss them," Abarzosa explained.

The acting MPD chief said the 48 policemen make up the initial batch of cops at the MPD to undergo dismissal proceedings.

He warned that more heads will roll in the ongoing cleansing of the MPD members engaged in illegal activities such as extortion and "hulidap."

Abarzosa also created a "recovery team," headed by Superintendent Angelito Santamina, which will seize the issued firearms of the AWOL policemen.

Charges of malversation of government property will be filed against those who fail to return their firearms to proper authorities, Abarzosa said. — With Nestor Etolle