Nine ‘ninja cops’ surrender to Pampanga court

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Nine of 13 so-called “ninja cops” on Thursday surrendered to a regional trial court (RTC) here in connection with the qualified bribery charges filed against them by the Department of Justice on Jan. 28.

Police Capt. Joven Bognot de Guzman Jr.; Police Master Sergeants Jules Lacao Maniago, Donald Castro Roque, Ronald Bayas Santos and Rommel Muñoz Vital; and Police Staff Sergeants Dante Mercado Dizon, Dindo Singian Dizon, Gilbert Angeles de Vera and Romeo Encarnacion Guerrero Jr. presented themselves to the RTC Branch 44 here. Judge Esperanza Paglinawan-Rosario issued the arrest warrants against the policemen on Feb. 10.

Detained

The nine policemen are now detained at the Pampanga provincial jail (PPJ), according to Edwin Mangaliman, jail warden. He said they have not received information on the other policemen with pending arrest warrants.

The policemen allegedly failed to account for the confiscated items obtained from Chinese suspect, Johnson Lee, in a buy-bust operation on Nov. 29, 2013, in Mexico town, Pampanga province.

The evidence included 200 kilograms of “shabu” (crystal meth), P55 million cash and a Toyota Fortuner. —TONETTE OREJAS