Did cops use NDFP man’s bank card?

The wife of arrested National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Vicente Ladlad has sought an investigation into the alleged unauthorized use of her husband’s bank card which, she said, was among the personal items seized from him last week.

Fides Lim said her husband’s Landbank Visa debit card contained the reparation he received from the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board as compensation for the abuses he suffered during martial law.

Police and military operatives arrested Ladlad, along with an elderly couple, Alberto and Virginia Villamor, in Novaliches, Quezon City, on Nov. 8.

Temporarily unavailable

Lim said that at 4:40 p.m. the next day, she received a text message, reportedly from Landbank, that her husband’s debit card was “temporarily unavailable for online use as a preventive measure against unauthorized transactions.”

In an interview on Sunday, she said the card might have been suspended due to repeated attempts to use it with the wrong pin numbers.

“I want the Philippine National Police to investigate [this]… It could only be the arresting team, because they took Vic’s wallet which had the bank card,” she told the Inquirer.

Among seized belongings

Ladlad said that the card, which was linked to his account that contained around P75,000, was among his belongings taken by the police during the raid.

However, Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., Quezon City police director, said the bank card was not listed in the inventory of seized items.

He added that he had already ordered an investigation into Lim’s allegations.