5 Laguna cops sacked over ‘tokhang for ransom’ case

SAN PEDRO CITY — The Philippine National Police had shown that its promise to punish erring policemen, especially those involved in enforcing President Duterte’s campaign against drugs, was not just propaganda.

In a 15-page decision dated March 21, the regional director of the PNP in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) ordered five police officers dismissed from the service for the kidnapping for ransom of a couple in the guise of an antinarcotics operation.

In the decision, Chief Supt. Ma O Aplasca, Calabarzon police director, ordered removed from the service PO2 John Alicbusan, PO1 Glecerio Cruzen, PO1 Clayson Benabese, PO3 Troyluss Ambrocius Yideso and PO3 Warren Ryan Carpena.

Grave misconduct

Aplasca’s decision said the officers were initially found guilty of grave misconduct for involvement in robbery and extortion.

The five officers, formerly assigned to the police force of Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, had been under the custody of the Laguna provincial police force since Rommel dela Cruz and his wife, Cristy, filed a complaint of kidnapping against them last year.

The officers’ modus operandi came to be known as “Tokhang for Ransom” as it involved policemen using the government’s antidrug campaign, “Oplan Tokhang,” for illegal activities.

“We do not tolerate cases such as this one,” said Aplasca in a statement on Saturday.

“We are very serious in cleansing our ranks of rogue members,” Aplasca added.

Mall abduction

According to the complaint, the policemen accosted the Dela Cruz couple in a Sta. Rosa mall on Aug. 4, 2017.

They were taken to a slaughterhouse where the policemen threatened to kill the couple and to make it appear that they were drug suspects who resisted arrest violently if they refused to dish out P1 million.

The couple were released after they paid an initial P33,200 and after promising to pay the rest of the amount in their next meeting with the policemen.

The couple reported the case to the Laguna provincial police and lodged a criminal case in September. The regional police ordered an internal investigation.

Supt. Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesperson for the Calabarzon police, on Saturday said the policemen were given 10 days to appeal the dismissal order.