Drug suspect alleges Cebu cops took his van

CEBU CITY — Suspected Hong Kong triad member Giovanni Gimenez is on a roll.

He now accuses members of the now defunct detective bureau of the city police of also taking a Mitsubishi L-300 van from him.

Earlier, he accused them of taking bribes, a luxury van, his jewelry and a cell phone.

Gimenez said at least three members of a team led by SPO3 Perfecto Codinera took the L-300 van from his condominium 15 days after his arrest for alleged possession of over 300 grams of shabu.

He said SPO2 Ronilo Nabua, PO1 Stanley Aldemita and PO3 Cyril Valencia, who were part of the Codinera-led team that arrested Gimenez, his brother Jovan and Victor Cineza last year, took the van and offered to find a buyer so he could use the money to pay a lawyer.

The problem is, Gimenez said, the van is now missing and he does not know whether it was sold as what he had been told, and if so, where the money went.

Gimenez emerged from a long silence like a man possessed, executing an affidavit on Tuesday, accusing members of the detective bureau, not the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group as erroneously reported, of demanding P1.5 million in exchange for not filing a case against him and his companions. He said he managed to give them only P500,000.

He then accused them of taking his Nokia 8850 cell phone worth P31,000, a Cartier wallet worth P21,000, a Cartier ballpen worth P17,000, cash amounting to P10,000, a bracelet worth P48,000 and pawnshop receipts amounting to P90,000.

The Gimenezes and Ceniza were arrested by Codinera’s team at the Sugbu Realty Condominiums on Sept. 7 last year, allegedly with 337.98 grams of shabu.

Possession of at least 200 grams of shabu can send them to death, if convicted. The drugs were found in the rear of a Hyundai Starex van.

Gimenez said after they were brought to the detective bureau office for interrogation, SPO2 Fernando Velarde and PO2 Reynaldo Matillano asked him to produce P1.5 million to settle things before the arrest got recorded in the blotter.

Determined to win freedom, Gimenez said he contacted everybody he thought could help him and managed to raise P300,000.

He said when the police realized it was impossible for him to produce P1.5 million, they agreed to settle for P500,000.

He claimed the remaining P200,000 was paid following their presentation to reporters.

Gimenez also claimed other instances when Nabua, Aldemita and Valencia would visit him at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center to allegedly ask for money.

Gimenez said he was forced to accede because of the threats he had received. He did not elaborate on the kinds of threats he allegedly received nor who made them.

He claimed that on Sept. 8 and 9 last year, he was escorted by Velarde and Matillano to his condominium, together with his former lawyer, Pedro Leslie Salva.

Using Salva’s Pajero, he was reportedly allowed to leave detention to check with his wife if she had money to pay for women allegedly brought to the detective bureau office by its members.

Matillano denied the allegations but admitted Gimenez was allowed out of jail to go home to see his wife, following reports she wanted to end her life.

Gimenez claimed that on the last week of September, Salva, SPO2 Ronilo Nabua and three other members of the detective bureau met his wife at Ayala Center and asked her to sign a blank deed of absolute sale for the Starex van.

Codinera has denied all the allegations of Gimenez.

Codinera threatened to sue Gimenez for libel but Gimenez welcomes it, saying he is standing by his allegations. — Freeman News Service