FILE PHOTO: The Philippine National Police (PNP) logo and values/motto painted on the perimeter wall of the camp while a police officer on board a motorcycle passes by, in Camp Crame, Quezon City, October 23, 2019.
INQUIRER/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) said the officer who was arrested for his alleged involvement in a notorious car theft scheme will face both administrative and criminal charges.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said Lt. Col. Gideon Ines Jr. will be slapped with administrative complaints for conduct unbecoming of a police officer and grave misconduct as he was charged with a crime punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
She also said Ines and his alleged cohorts in the “rent-tangay” carjacking ploy, Michael Perez Bautista and Lyn Salazar Tuazon, are still detained at Special Operations Division-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) Headquarters.
The PNP-HPG operatives arrested Ines, Bautista, and Tuazon in Parañaque City on June 5.
“Aside from violating Republic Act No. 10883 or New Carnapping Act of 2016 and Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code filed before the Pasay Prosecutor’s Office last June 6, he [Ines] will also face administrative charges for grave misconduct for the commission of a crime punishable under the Revised Penal Code and conduct unbecoming of a police officer,” Fajardo said.
Based on a police report, HPG operatives arrested the three suspects near a restaurant in Baclaran, along Roxas Boulevard Service Road last week following a complaint that they failed to return the Mitsubishi Xpander they rented from June 2 to 4.
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Authorities said the complainant positively identified Bautista as the main suspect; Tuazon, who also uses the name “Carmela Tayag”, as the person who arranged a car rental agreement; and Ines as “the person giving orders in the transaction.”
Police also said it was the car owner’s wife who discovered that their vehicle was being sold online through information from a supposed buyer.
The complainant and the purported buyer then sought the help of authorities which led to the police operation against the suspects.