MANILA, Philippines — Four police officers assigned in Muntinlupa City were removed from their posts after they allegedly robbed a couple of P447,000 in cash and other belongings during a raid on a house on Tuesday.
Southern Police District (SPD) director Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft relieved and placed under restrictive custody Sr. M/Sgt. Leoren Javier, 42; Cpl. Jenniel Calica, 33; and Patrolmen Cris Callie Cruz, 34, and Louie Pena, 29.
Pena was assigned with the city police’s drug enforcement unit while the other three officers were with the intelligence section. They are being held on charges of robbery extortion.
“The SPD does not condone wrongdoings of our police personnel, appropriate criminal and administrative charges shall be filed against the involved personnel as warranted by evidence or testimonies,” Kraft said in a statement.
An investigation report showed the policemen barged into the house of a 34-year-old businesswoman in Barangay Putatan on April 4 at around 12:30 a.m.
The victim told probers she was in her bed when the policemen forced their way into their home.
She said the policemen told her they were looking for her husband and threatening to arrest him for violating Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, if he did not appear.
As she called her husband, the policemen allegedly forced her to transfer P50,000 from her GCash account to another cell phone number.
The policemen then searched her house even without a judicial order and took P380,000 from her travel bag and P9,000 from her backpack, the businesswoman said.
When her husband arrived, the policemen took his ATM card to withdraw the amount stored. The nearest ATM machine to their residence was offline, according to the businesswoman.
The policemen returned the couple to their house but not before threatening them with arrest if they are do not send an additional P50,000.
Before they left, the policemen took a motorcycle crash helmet from the victims worth P8,000.
Apart from robbery extortion, the police officers are facing complaints of violation of domicile, theft, grave threats and malicious mischief.