MANILA, Philippines—Quezon City policemen may no longer extort money from lovers caught making out in parked cars.
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) on Friday barred patrolmen from making the rounds of streets at night if the intention is to catch lovers in intimate acts inside their cars.
“That is not our priority. Our priority is anti-criminality campaigns,” said Chief Supt. Richard Albano, the police district’s director.
He instructed the QCPD’s 12 police station commanders to stop the night patrols of some errant lawmen out to extort money from couples inside their parked cars.
The warning came in the aftermath of the arrest of two policemen from the Galas police station who allegedly tried to extort P20,000 from a couple in a car parked in New Manila on Tuesday night.
PO1 Ronaldo Englis, 39, and PO1 Ronald Mansibang, 28, were relieved of their duties following the incident.
The policemen claimed that the couple were creating “alarm and scandal,” which the couple denied.
Philippine National Police spokesperson Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac personally responded to the couple’s call for help, leading to the two policemen’s arrest in a police follow-up operation.
At a press conference on Friday, Albano said he did not think intimate acts inside one’s car were criminal offenses.
“It is within the privacy of one’s car, so there is nothing alarming or scandalous in that,” he said.
Albano added: “I will personally hold all station commanders responsible for their men if another extortion incident happens like this again.”
Aside from Mansibang and Englis, another lawman, PO1 Christopher Lucky Dela Peña, 26, has been implicated in the scandal. He is still at large and has been declared absent without leave.
“To Dela Peña, if you are innocent, then come out of hiding,” Albano said.
QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Supt. Joel Pagdilao said Englis, the oldest of the trio, entered the service in 2003. He was followed by Dela Peña in 2010 and Mansibang in 2012.
The three face an administrative charge of grave misconduct, which is punishable by dismissal from the service.
Pagdilao said he has ordered a thorough background check of the policemen, who have never been promoted.
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