MANILA -- A ranking Makati police official was arrested on Thursday for allegedly extorting money from "habal-habal" drivers.
Members of the Philippine National Police-Counter-Intelligence Task Force (PNP-CITF) identified the suspect as Senior Police Officer 4 Danilo Paghubasan, deputy commander of the Makati Police Community Precinct (PCP) 9.
Paghubasan was arrested after receiving PHP15,000 marked money in an entrapment operation in Barangay Ususan, Taguig City around 6:45 a.m.
Caramat said the operation stemmed from the complaint of "habal-habal" drivers who said Paghubasan is asking for a PHP15,000 "membership fee" wherein those who cannot pay will not be allowed to pick up passengers at their illegal terminal along C5 in Taguig.
Through a surveillance operation, Paghubasan was also found to have been collecting PHP150 per day from 40 habal-habal drivers in the area.
He threatened those who will not pay that they will be apprehended by his police cohorts from the Taguig PCP 8.
"It has also been observed during surveillance by PNP IG & CITF that the arrested subject is seemingly not reporting/performing his official duties as personnel of PCP 9, Makati City (Police Station) because he was frequently seen in plain clothes at the habal-habal terminal of said place,” CITF commander Senior Supt. Romeo Caramat Jr. told reporters.
Paghubasan is now under the custody of CITF for proper disposition and filing of appropriate charges. He is the second police official in the Southern Police District (SPD) to be arrested for extortion.
On Sunday, CITF operatives arrested Chief Insp. Paul Bryan Torres, head of the PCP 6 in Barangay Ususan, Taguig City along with Police Officer 1 Ariel Internal for allegedly demanding PHP100,000 from the mother of a drug suspect in exchange for the downgrading of charges against him.
Reports showed that victim Rochelle Calle’s son, Raven, was collared by members of the PCP 6 for alleged drug pushing.
Meanwhile, Director Guillermo Eleazar, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) head, said these operations show that more citizens are more active now in reporting illegal activities of rogue cops
"We will not tolerate those erring cops as the PNP is serious in its internal cleansing program and continuously conducting intelligence operations to weed out the rogue police personnel the police force," Eleazar told PNA in a phone interview. (PNA)
