Be wary of accepting money from politicians who would attempt to buy your votes as you may have unknowingly been exchanging the country’s future for fake peso bills.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) reported Friday, Oct. 29, the arrest of two men in Cebu City who allegedly manufactured fake money amounting to P111,000 which will supposedly be distributed for the May 2022 national and local elections.
PNP Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar identified the suspects as Joseph Mercado Salas, 36, and Ivan Noval Luardo, 35. They were arrested in separate entrapment operations in Cebu City.
The police operations stemmed from an anonymous tip received by the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) that some unscrupulous individuals were making counterfeit money and preparing to distribute them for the upcoming polls.
This prompted CIDG commander Police Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro to hatch a plan with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to verify the report and catch the suspects.
The operation led the CIDG and BSP to Cebu City where they apprehended Salas last Oct. 19 for making fake money amounting to P24,000.
The operatives learned that Salas was not working alone, thus, a follow-up operation was carried out which led to the arrest of Luardo on Oct. 25. Confiscated from him were 52 pieces of fake P1,000 bills (P52,000) and 70 pieces of fake P500 bills (P35,000).
Eleazar believes that the counterfeit money will be used in vote buying, an illegal but widespread activity during elections where candidates entice voters to vote for them or against a political rival in exchange of a hefty sum.
“Mga ordinaryo nating mga kababayan ang kalimiting biktima ng mga kriminal na ito kaya titiyakin natin na pagsisihan ng dalawang ito ang kanilang ginawa (The ordinary people are the ones usually victimized by these criminals that’s why we will make sure that these two will pay for what they did),” Eleazar said.
“Pinapaalalahan din natin ang ating mga kababayan na mag-isip-isip sa pagtanggap ng pera mula sa mga kandidatong bibili ng inyong mga boto dahil baka mabudol lang kayo (We remind the public to think twice before accepting money from candidates who will buy your votes because you might get scammed),” he added.
The suspects were charged before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office for violation of Article 168 (illegal possession and use of false treasury or banknotes and other instruments of credit) in relation to Article 166 of the Revised Penal Code.
Meanwhile, the PNP Chief directed the CIDG to further investigate the operation of the suspects to identify and arrest their financiers and other cohorts.
“I also instructed the CIDG and other unit commanders to step up intelligence-gathering and operations, in coordination with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, to ensure that those who benefit from these modus will not be given opportunity to victimize our kababayan (countrymen),” Eleazar said.