CEBU CITY – A 29-year-old worker of the City Hall was arrested for alleged graft and practices act.
Kara Marie Bargamento was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI 7) in an entrapment operation on Wednesday.
The NBI 7 said that the suspect, as officer-in-charge of the Market Operation Division, was accused of demanding P100,000 from each vendor who will be displaced by the redevelopment project of the Carbon Market.
Before the NBI 7 stepped in, Marigen Diano, Market Supervisor, and Raquel Arce, chief of the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE), has already investigated the accusations hurled against Bargamento.
The NBI 7 said that investigation showed that the suspect demanded P100,000 from each vendor to secure a stall in the redeveloped market.
In exchange for the P100,000, the suspect promised to facilitate the issuance of Certificate of Award which gives stall rights and the right of occupancy to displaced vendors.
The suspect had already transacted with at least 50 vendors when she was arrested in a stall next to her office in Carbon Market.
Some of the vendors even pleaded to reduce the fee to P80,000 but the suspect insisted to collect P100,000 from them, the NBI 7 said.
Marked money and several Certificates of Award were recovered from the suspect’s possession during the arrest, the NBI 7 said.