Cops suing cops: QCPD vs CIDG
The head of the Quezon City Police District Wednesday said criminal charges would be filed against 15 policemen from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based in Camp Crame who allegedly tried to take the two women who were arrested by his men last week.
QCPD director Chief Superintendent Mario De la Vega said the CIDG people “intervened and assaulted” three of his men to prevent them from taking custody of Marilyn Ong and Edna Alfuerto, who had been convicted by a Manila court for violation of the bouncing checks law.
The CIDG members would be charged with obstruction of justice, grave threats and physical injuries, De la Vega told the Inquirer in an interview.
De la Vega said Ong was also the subject of a criminal case in the United States involving a $80-million scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank.
He said the Belgian Embassy, on behalf of the Unified Field Corp., also filed a civil case against the two women over the questionable lease of a property owned by the Kingdom of Belgium.
De la Vega said that based on the records of the National Bureau of Investigation, Ong and Alfuerto had up to 22 complaints filed against them at the agency and 16 cases pending in various courts in Metro Manila.
The two women were arrested separately based on warrants issued in January 2011 by Manila Metropolitan Trial Court-Branch 1. The first to fall was Ong, who was arrested by a six-man team from the QCPD in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, on May 18.
De la Vega said Ong agreed to cooperate with the team in getting to Alfuerto, by setting a meeting later that day with the latter at a house in Barangay Teachers Village in Quezon City.
But when Alfuerto showed up at the place, De la Vega said, she was already accompanied by CIDG personnel. This led to a confrontation between the QCPD team and the CIDG team, he said.
He surmised that the two women, prior to the meeting, had apparently reported to and convinced the CIDG that Ong had been “kidnapped” by armed men.
“These fugitives (Ong and Alfuerto) were that good in disinformation,” De la vega said.
The district director also explained that contrary to what CIDG personnel had earlier claimed, the operation to arrest Ong and Alfuerto had his go-signal, making it “a valid and legitimate operation.”
“I signed (the papers) for the conduct of the operation based on the warrant of arrest,” the police official said, adding that proper coordination with other authorities in the areas of operation was observed.
He said QCPD’s assistance was also sought by businessman Thomas Lim, the private complainant in the P5.5- million bouncing checks case in Manila.
De la Vega said the CIDG personnel assaulted the QCPD arresting team when they arrived at the designated meeting place in Teachers Village. “They (my men) were immediately arrested, handcuffed and forced to lie spread-eagle on the ground,” De la Vega said.
He said the CIDG personnel ignored the documents showed by the QCPD policemen.
De la Vega said his men were eventually were able to prevent the CIDG personnel from leaving with the fugitives when a backup team from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit responded to the scene.
“My men managed to hold their ground and did not allow the CIDG personnel to leave with the convicted felons,” De la Vega said.
Ong and Alfuerto were brought Wednesday before Director Alan Purisima, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. With a report from Miko Morelos
