Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. on Friday, July 14, called on the five police officers tagged in a robbery-extortion of a computer shop in Sampaloc, Manila to appear and submit themselves to authorities as they are now being investigated by their comrades.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. (File photo)
The five cops were identified as Staff Sergeants Ryann Tagle Paculan and Jan Erwin Santiago Isaac; Corporal Jonmark Gonzales Dabucol; and Patrolmen Jeremiah Sesma Pascual and John Lester Reyes Pagar. They were all members of the Manila Police District’s District Police Intelligence Operations Unit (MPD-DPIOU).
“I am saddened about it but we are doing our best just to show to our fellow Filipinos that we are not condoning any kind of this act and we will be running after them,” Acorda said.
The PNP Chief ordered the Manila Police District (MPD) to work with the Camp Crame-based Intelligence Group (IG) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to locate the suspects.
“I urge those PNP personnel na sumuko na lang (just surrender already),” he noted.
According to the PNP, the five cops were allegedly caught in a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage as they forcibly entered a computer shop in Brgy. 525 on Tuesday night, July 11, and introduced themselves as policemen who were conducting an operation against illegal gambling.
The cops then allegedly accused 73-year-old Herminigildo Dela Cruz, the owner of the computer shop, of being involved in an illegal gambling den before they took the shop’s earnings from the drawer amounting to P44,000.
The cops did not present a search warrant and were in plain clothes, according to the PNP.
The cops also supposedly demanded from the shop owner a weekly “protection money” worth P4,000 just to continue the shop’s operation.
The cops have since gone into hiding and did not report to office. Police were also investigating a woman, alias “Menay”, who allegedly acted as an accomplice of the suspects.
Meanwhile, the MPD relieved the entire 50-member unit of the MPD-DPIOU pending the result of further investigation on the incident.