4 cops charged with kidnapping, extortion

MANILA, Philippines - The Muntinlupa prosecutor’s office has recommended the filing of kidnapping and robbery charges against four policemen and their alleged bag man for allegedly abducting and extorting money from a drug convict’s wife last March.

In a six-page resolution, Assistant City Prosecutor Bernard Pineda found probable cause to indict Inspector Aurelio Domingo, Police Officer 3 Ruel Cubian, PO2 Ernie Reyes Jr., PO1 Rajenie Cayabyab, all detailed at the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and their civilian cohort Lemuel Fuson.

The five were accused of conspiring to kidnap and extort money from Amina Mangondatu last March 9. Mangondatu is the common-law wife of drug convict Romeo Duran Tan Jr.

They allegedly demanded P3 million from Mangondatu but later agreed to lower the amount to P500,000.

The group sent Fuson to get the money but he was arrested in an entrapment set up by operatives from the Southern Police District.

Thinking that the money was already in Fuson’s hands, the other suspects released Mangondatu.

The policemen have denied the charges although they were photographed by the victim’s neighbor while dragging her into their getaway vehicle, a black Toyota Fortuner without license plate.

The officers claimed that the arrest of Mangondatu was a case of mistaken identity.

But the fiscal denied their alibi, saying the “excuse of mistaken identity is improbable for they are supposed to know the identity of the person they are going to arrest.”

Mangondatu’s rescue led to the discovery of the rampant abduction of the wives and female relatives of wealthy inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Complainants have pointed to police officers from various districts in Metro Manila, members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and those from the National Bureau of Investigation as behind the kidnappings.