A couple who were allegedly caught while in "scandalous" acts inside a car filed robbery charges against three Quezon City policemen for allegedly extorting money from them Tuesday night.
Rodolfo Eduardo Santiago, 22, reportedly a classmate of the son of Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Theodore Ruben Sindac, and his 21-year-old female companion (identity temporarily withheld) were accompanied by the Quezon City Police District's Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) team when they filed the robbery charges against Police Officers 1 Ronaldo Englis, 39, and Roland Mansibang, 28, of the Galas police station Wednesday. The third cop, PO1 Christopher Lucky dela Peña, however, is still at large as of this post.
The inquest fiscal, Assistant City Prosecutor Nilda Ordono, however, downgraded the charge and recommended the filing of attempted robbery only against Mansibang, citing there were no actual transfer of money when the cops were arrested.
The fiscal dropped the robbery case filed against Englis and Dela Peña.
A separate case for drug possession was filed against Englis after a teabag of marijuana was found in his motorcycle. The complaint was also dropped as the drugs were not found in "plain view."
The QCPD said the three will also be facing administrative complaints for grave misconduct.
"Scandalous" acts, extort try
Based on Santiago’s complaint, he and his 21-year-old girlfriend were inside his car, which was parked on 8th Street in New Manila around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when two policemen, later identified as Mansibang and Englis, knocked on the window, shining flashlights.
He was ordered to get out of the car and was asked for his driver’s license. Santiago claimed Mansibang threatened to charge him and his companion with public scandal for which the fine was P20,000.
“I asked him (Mansibang) how we would proceed from there, to which he responded that if we wished to avoid any public incident, and threatened that the media would be involved, we would have to pay that amount (P20,000),” Santiago said in his affidavit.
When the complainant told Mansibang that he did not have the money, the policeman allegedly asked him how much was in his wallet and when he replied P4,000, he was allegedly told to withdraw some money from an ATM. It was then that he started calling Sindac.
When Mansibang was told by Santiago that he was able to get in touch with the PNP spokesman, the policeman apparently thought it was a bluff and instructed the motorist and his girlfriend to proceed to the Greenhills Town Center on Granada Street in Barangay Valencia where they were met by several other policemen.
It was there that members of his family along with Sindac arrived. Sindac spoke to Mansibang, Englis and the other policemen and directed them all to report to the QCPD-CIDU.
The two policemen denied the extortion try and told the Inquirer that they were on patrol when they spotted members of the QCPD tactical motorcycle riders unit accosting a motorist.
“We never asked him (Santiago) for money. He was just turned over to us by the TMRU. We just happened to be there when General Sindac arrived,” Englis said.--Source: Inquirer