ZAMBOANGA CITY – Criminal and administrative cases are being readied to be filed against a police official and four policemen involved in irregularities in this city, an official announced Tuesday.
Police Brig. Gen. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) director, said that cases of robbery extortion and violation of Republic Act 3019, anti-graft and corrupt practices act; and, Republic Act 6713, Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Official and Employees, are being prepared to be filed against Police Maj. Orlyn Leyte, Staff Sergeant Hegenio Salvador, Staff Sergeant Asser Abdulkadim, Corporal Ismael Sasapan Hassan, and Corporal Juman Arabani.
Ylagan said that Leyte, the officer-in-charge of the Zamboanga City Police Office’s (ZCPO) Station 9, was arrested after receiving P90,000 in an entrapment operation led by the Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group (IMEG) around 6:45 in the afternoon of Monday, in his office at Barangay Ayala, this city.
Ylagan said that the P90,000 consisting of P2,000 genuine bills with ultra violet powder and 88 pieces of photocopied P1,000 bills as boodle money represent as payment for the settlement of an alleged drug case against a businesswoman.
Police Col. Rexmel Reyes, ZCPO director, said the entrapment operation was launched after the businesswoman filed a complaint that she was robbed of jewelries and a week of her store earnings by policemen in the guise of anti-drug operation on March 11.
Ylagan said that the other four policemen involved in the robbery extortion have been relieved from ZCPO’s Station 9 effective Saturday and were reassigned to the City Personnel Holding and Accounting Section.
He added that Leyte and the four policemen are now temporarily detained at the lock-up cell of ZCPO.
“While we intensify our campaign against illegal drugs and effectively manage all kinds of police operations, we do not want any unscrupulous schemes devised by our personnel to advance their personal interest,” he said. – Nikolai Gonzalo
