The arrest of agents of the Batangas-based Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) who were nabbed by fellow cops on Friday for holding a Manila coed, Cristina Rodriguez, for ransom has amounted to nothing.
The agents were brought to Batangas Assistant Prosecutor Evelyn Jovellanos for inquest, but she ordered three of them released.
Jovellanos ordered three other agents to temporarily remain in custody, but there’s a big chance they could be released later.
The agents were charged with kidnapping for ransom, robbery extortion and arbitrary detention.
Kidnapping-for-ransom is a nonbailable offense.
Jovellanos did not give weight to the statements made to investigators by three of my staff at “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo” public service program that the CIDG agents demanded P500,000 from the family of the victim for her release.
In short, the prosecutor intimated that the arrest of the CIDG agents did not have any basis.
Alin Ferrer, one of the “Isumbong” staff, noticed that Jovellanos appeared to be a “too friendly” with the arrested CIDG agents.
The alleged kidnap-for-ransom incident was revealed in my public service program.
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Some law enforcers are so naive they don’t think before implicating in criminal cases private individuals whose lofty standing in the community makes it seem impossible for them to commit the crime imputed to them.
Take the case of Aurelio Montinola and lawyer Perry L. Pe, prominent individuals, who were recently cleared of drug trafficking charges by the Muntinlupa Prosecutor’s Office.
The charges were filed against them by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) in connection with the raid on a house on Ayala Alabang, an upscale village in Muntinlupa City, where a huge amount of illegal drugs were found.
Some Chinese nationals who rented the house were arrested and charged in court by the PDEA.
But the PDEA also charged Montinola and Pe for alleged conspiracy with the suspected Chinese drug traffickers.
PDEA’s Rick Raynold Simbulan, who filed the charges, said Montinola and Pe were officers of Fuerte Holdings Inc., a real estate firm which owns the house that was raided.
Montinola and Pe are neither employees nor incoporators of Fuerte Holdings.
And even if they were, Fuerte Holdings could not be held liable since it did not know what the Chinese tenants were up to.
Before the PDEA implicated Montinola and Pe in the drug trafficking case, they should have first thought how prominent citizens like Montinola and Pe could get involved with lowlife?
Montinola and Pe could file for damages in court against Simbulan.
But Pe said he would just charge it to experience.
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There are two candidates for the vacated post of administrator of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA): retired police general Bobby Lastimoso, former general manager of Metro Rail Transit (MRT); and Rey Dilay, a businessman.
Dilay supplies construction materials to the LRTA, and considering him for the post is a clear case of conflict of interest.
Lastimoso, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, is no stranger to managing train operations.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know who is more qualified for the post.