Manila cop fails to turn in vault with P10-million cash, jewelry

MANILA, Philippines - A traffic policeman was arrested yesterday after he failed to turn over a vault containing about P10 million in cash and jewelry he had taken from a maid, who was about to bring it to a suspected con man at a hospital in Manila.

The maid, Geraldine Tamorete, 29, said she received a telephone call at around 4 p.m. Saturday from a woman who told her that her employer, Shoting Tan, her two children and the family driver met an accident and were taken to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRMMC).

She said the caller ordered her to get a vault in Tan’s bedroom and bring it to the hospital to pay for medical expenses.

“I was ordered not to tell anyone because Ate did not want media attention. I was told the family’s phones were all with the police so I shouldn’t try to contact them either,” Tamorete told police.

The maid said she believed the caller because she seemed to know who she and the Tans were, even where the vault was located. She followed the caller’s instructions, even unusual ones such as hanging up the landline.

The caller took to contacting Tamorete through texts and calls on her cell phone. The maid took the vault from the second-floor bedroom, pushed it down the stairs and hailed a cab to bring her to the hospital.

Taxi driver Hadji Heradoma sensed something was wrong and brought her to a policeman patrolling Tayuman street, who turned out to be Police Officer 1 Dominic Tappay.

Lappay accompanied Tamorete on the taxi ride to JRMMC and answered calls on Tamorete’s cell phone, identifying himself as a policeman. This apparently scared the caller off.

She got out of the taxi to reload her cell phone, but found that the taxi and Lappay left without her. She returned to her employer, who accompanied her to report the incident to the Caloocan City police.

Senior Inspector Maying de la Cruz and his team were able to track down Lappay and recover the vault from his house on San Pascual street in Malate yesterday.

De la Cruz said Lappay is considered a robbery suspect because he took off with the vault “in bad faith.”

According to De la Cruz, Lappay “said he was going to turn over the vault to Mayor Alfredo Lim (today), but that seemed like an afterthought. He should have immediately reported it to his superior.” Lappay has denied he intended to keep the vault.

MPD homicide section chief Senior Inspector Joselito de Ocampo told reporters that Lappay will remain in their custody before he is turned over to the Caloocan police today.