DENR-Bicol legal assistant faces direct bribery raps

LEGAZPI CITY , Philippines   â€“ A legal assistant of the Bicol office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was charged yesterday with direct bribery a day after he was caught inside the regional office here receiving P5,000 in marked money from a van driver in an entrapment operation laid out by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Legazpi City chief prosecutor Dominador Barrameda recommended P10,000 bail for the temporary liberty of Roger Madrideo, a legal assistant II at the DENR-Bicol legal division.

The case stemmed from the complaint of Rogelio San Juan Jr., a van driver from Pamplona, Camarines Sur.

NBI-Legazpi chief Manuel Antonio Eduarte said they planned the entrapment after San Juan went to their office early this week to complain about the alleged extortion of Madrideo and another official of the DENR-Bicol legal department.

Eduarte said his agents collared Madrideo after receiving five pieces of marked P1,000 bills from San Juan in front of an NBI agent at the DENR legal division office.

Eduarte said they would also file a separate complaint against the other DENR executive who San Juan mentioned in his affidavit as a cohort of Madrideo.

“Since he was able to elude our entrapment, we will merely file separate corruption charges against him as provided for in Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act,” he said.

San Juan alleged that the two DENR-Bicol officials agreed to release his vehicle impounded last June in exchange for P10,000, but later reduced it to P5,000.