Businesswoman sues 2 Crame cops
Two camp Crame-based policemen were placed under arrest by their colleagues the other day after a businesswoman charged them with car theft, arbitrary detention and extortion.
Based on the complaint of Rosela Ong-Gonzales, a 56-year-old trader from Las Piñas City, SPO1 Raul Palad and PO1 Manuel Fuentes of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Intelligence Group held her against her will for several hours until she was forced to give them her new car and cell phone.
Case investigator PO3 Hermogenes Capili of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the incident happened shortly before noon on Feb. 9 in Palad’s house on 20th Avenue in Cubao, Quezon City.
Gonzales, who was selling a Toyota Vios, had gone to the policeman’s house to meet a prospective buyer. But when she got there, Palad and Fuentes introduced themselves as policemen and told her that she was selling a stolen or “hot” car for which she could be arrested.
Gonzales said that she showed them proof that she bought the car legally from a car dealer but the policemen insisted that she was selling a stolen vehicle. They then asked her for money in exchange for setting her free without pressing charges.
The businesswomen said the policemen kept her inside the house for three hours until they decided to simply take the car keys and her cell phone which was worth P5,700.
But before setting her free, they warned her not to report them to the police. At the same time, they told her to give them P20,000 in cash and another car in exchange for her Toyota Vios.
Gonzales, however, immediately reported her experience to the Las Piñas City police. On Monday, she went to the QCPD-CIDU theft and robbery section to ask for help in arresting the suspects.
That afternoon, Palad and Fuentes were taken into custody. Recovered from them were the car and the businesswoman’s cell phone.
The two are detained in the QCPD-CIDU holding cell pending the filing of charges against them in the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
