5 cops charged for extortion

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman recommended the filing of charges against a former Quezon City Police District (QCPD) station commander and four other policemen for allegedly extorting money from a retail store owner in 2010.

In a six-page resolution released yesterday, Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer Yvette Marie Evaristo recommended the filing of a robbery extortion case against former QCPD Station 4 commander Superintendent Crisostomo Mendoza.

Also charged were SPO1 Amor Guiang, PO2 Rodger Ompoy, SPO2 Dante Nagera, PO3 Jerry Ines, and Muslim Vendors’ Association-Litex president Mangorsi Ampaso.

The police officers were reportedly assigned at the QCPD Station 6 at the time of the alleged extortion incident.

The case stemmed from the complaint of Muhad Pangandaman, who claimed that members of QCPD Station 6 arrested him on Jan. 11, 2010 while he was tending his store on Litex IBP Road, accusing him of violating the gun ban.

Pangandaman said he was brought to the police station where Nagera allegedly demanded from him the amount of P200,000 in exchange for his liberty. He said it was Ampaso who informed his relatives, who came up with the money and gave it to Nagera.

The complainant said that before he was released, Nagera allegedly threatened him not to tell anyone about the incident or he will be arrested again.

Records showed that Pangandaman filed an amended complaint on Feb. 24, 2010 and included Mendoza, Ines, Guiang and Ompoy as respondents, claiming the four were with Nagera at the police station when he demanded the money. The complainant alleged that Nagera gave Mendoza half of the money.

All police officers accused in the case denied the charge. Mendoza said he does not know Nagera as the latter was neither assigned nor detailed at the QCPD Station 6.

In her resolution, Evaristo explained that the respondents’ defenses were “inherently weak and must be rejected because their identities as perpetrators were satisfactorily and categorically established.”

She set bail at P100,000 for each of the respondents. The five police officers are also facing charges of arbitrary detention before the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court.