Motorcycle rider sues Manila cop for stealing P38k

A robbery extortion complaint was filed Monday against a Manila policeman accused by a 25-year-old man of taking the P38,000 in cash he was supposed to deliver to his uncle.

SPO1 James Poso of the Manila Police District (MPD) General Assignment Section identified the suspect as PO1 Esmael Balon Nor who is assigned at the Baywalk police community precinct.

The complainant, Mark Jason Gatdula of Tondo, Manila, said that on Sunday afternoon, he was driving his motorcycle when the traffic light turned red at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and Pedro Gil. When he stopped at the intersection, Nor accosted him.

“I asked [him] what my violation was but he said he was conducting a checkpoint and asked for my driver’s license and motorcycle papers,” Gatdula told the Inquirer.

He added that when the policeman frisked him, the latter noticed the money in his pocket.

Gatdula said he told the policeman that he was taking the cash to his uncle, Mario Labarosa, in Taguig City, who was going to buy a motorcycle.

Nor, however, told the complainant to follow him. He walked toward a parking lot where the policeman took all the victim’s money.

However, the policeman apparently took pity on the victim because he gave back P4,000.

Senior Insp. Danilo Soriano, chief of the Baywalk PCP, accompanied the complainant to the MPD and said he would not tolerate Nor’s action.