Japanese’s case unveils blackmail operations

CAMP VICENTE LIM—Police are tracking down three persons and arrested three others believed to be part of a syndicate that extorted money from a Japanese executive by playing out a rape scenario.

The modus: a girl goes out with the target and later cries rape. Three more people, posing as a doctor and the minor’s parents, come into the picture and threaten to sue the victim unless he pays them.

This was what happened to a 54-year-old Japanese national, who sought the help of the police in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) that led to the arrest of three of the suspects in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna, on Tuesday.

Police withheld the name of the Japanese, who is president of a large electronics company based in Canlubang. The Japanese has a wife and two children in Japan.

Date with girls

Chief Supt. Benito Estipona, Calabarzon police director, in a phone interview on Thursday said the Japanese first met two women, identified only as Kate and KC, on April 27 in Makati City, where the foreigner was staying.

The two women invited the Japanese to lunch and later to their place, also in Makati City, where they introduced the girl, identified as Joy.

“Kate and KC went out and left the Japanese to Joy. When the two returned, Joy started complaining of vaginal pain,” Estipona said, quoting the Japanese’s statement to police.

The Japanese told police nothing sexual happened between him and the girl and they only had a few drinks.

Fake doctor

The two other female accomplices, however, brought the girl to a clinic where another accomplice, identified as Sharon Mendoza, 42, posed as a doctor and declared that the girl had “lacerations.”

Mendoza had told the Japanese that the girl needed surgery that would cost P500,000 and therapy that would cost P200,000.

When they went back to the women’s house, suspects Lourdes Manalo, 49, and Edwin Gasga, 46, came and introduced themselves as the girl’s parents, threatening to sue the Japanese.

The Japanese immediately paid P200,000 and gave the girl a laptop to avoid getting involved in the scandal, said Estipona.

“But they continued to demand money so the Japanese sought help from his friends, who in turn referred the case to us (on July 8),” he said.

The Japanese had reportedly given over P500,000 to the suspects.

Police set up an entrapment operation at Paseo de Sta. Rosa, a commercial complex in Sta. Rosa City.