2 men posing as NBI agents, selling fake ID cards arrested

MANILA, Philippines — Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced on Monday the arrest of two men for allegedly selling fake bureau identification cards, badges and other agency-issued documents to employees of an electric cooperative in Zamboanga City.

The NBI claimed that the two suspects even posed as agents and allegedly offered their purported investigative expertise in handling internal security concerns, particularly pilferage, at the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) along Putik Highway in Zamboanga City.

NBI Western Mindanao Regional Office (WEMRO) chief Lawyer Manuel Almendares identified the suspects as: Eduardo Roque Bautista, of Tarcan, Baliuag in Bulacan; and Jimmy Masangcay Zabala of Putik Highway, Zamboanga City.

Almendares, in his report, said that the two were arrested in an entrapment operation on August 2, which stemmed from the complaint of two Zamcelco employees Federico Villar and Samuel Julio who found the two men’s activities suspicious.

The complaint stated that Bautista and Zabala introduced themselves as NBI agents and offered their services to help the electric cooperative in probing internal concerns, which prompted the company to provide the two with their own quarters.

But the Zamcelco employees began to suspect Bautista and Zabala when they allegedly started to sell fake NBI identification cards, badges, permits to carry firearms outside of residence, and mission orders for P6,500 per package to their co-workers, which prompted Villar and Julio to seek the assistance of the NBI-WEMRO.

Almendares said that his agents at the NBI-WEMRO validated the complaint and nabbed Zabala while he was posing as a bureau agent at the Zamcelco compound. Bautista was nabbed at the Lavina Hotel at Governor Alvarez in Zamboanga City while allegedly transacting the sale of fake NBI documents.

The two men have been charged before the Zamboanga City prosecutor’s office with usurpation of authority and estafa through the falsification of public documents.