Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) extended the administrative relief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) chiefs until Friday, Nov. 22.
NCRPO Director Maj. Gen. Sidney Hernia and ACG Director Maj. Gen. Ronnie Cariaga were initially relieved from their posts for 10 days starting November 7.
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The two chiefs are under investigation by a committee led by Acting Deputy Chief for Operations Lt. Col. Michael John Dubria, following issues arising from the PNP ACG and NCRPO’s raid on an alleged scam hub in Manila.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame on Thursday, PNP Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said the police force added five more days to Hernia and Cariaga’s administrative relief, which was now set to expire on Friday, Nov. 22.
Fajardo said, “Hindi pa tapos ang investigation. The PNP leadership deems it necessary to extend ang kanilang administrative relief until Friday.”
(The investigation is not yet done. The PNP leadership deems it necessary to extend their administrative relief until Friday.)
“Hopefully, by tomorrow, tapos na, mayroon na mga initial findings, but hintayin natin na matapos, makompleto yung result ng investigation,” she added.
(Hopefully, by tomorrow, it’s done, we’d have initial findings, but let’s wait for the investigation to finish, for the results to be completed.)
Last October 29, the PNP ACG and the NCRPO raided Vertex Technologies at the Century Peak Tower in Ermita, Manila under a cyber-warrant.
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Hernia was accused of extorting foreign nationals apprehended during the raid, a claim which the NCRPO chief denied.
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Meanwhile, the ACG came under fire for three of its personnel tampering with the building’s closed circuit television cameras while police maintained a presence at Century Peak Tower to collect evidence following the raid.