Four men posing as traffic policemen were arrested on Sunday afternoon on C5 Road in Quezon City after they reportedly extorted P700 from the daughter of a prosecutor in San Juan City.
Eduardo Celetaria, 40; Raymund Liwag, 33; Eduardo Joves, 48; and Bernard Medina, 40, were charged with robbery, extortion and usurpation of authority by the men they were impersonating.
Except for Medina, the three used to be traffic enforcers of the Quezon City government’s Department of Public Order and Safety.
Earlier, they introduced themselves as members of the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) Traffic Enforcement Unit (TEU) when they accosted the daughter of San Juan Chief Prosecutor Tomas Ricalde Jr.
According to QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano, the four flagged down Dorothy Joy Ricalde at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday as she passed by a U-turn slot in front of the Wilcon building on C5 Road.
They accused her of reckless driving and extorted P700 from her in exchange for not giving her a traffic violation receipt.
She gave them the money but she immediately reported the incident to her father who in turn called up Director Leonardo Espina, a top official of the Philippine National Police.
When Albano learned of the incident from Espina, he ordered members of the TEU to go to the area to arrest the fake traffic enforcers.
Seized from the four men were three booklets of expired ordinance violation receipts and four motorcycles without license plates.