Business as usual

Customs Commissioner Bert Lina’s chief of staff, Silverio Montalbo, has been sacked on accusations of involvement in an extortion racket at the Bureau of Customs.

The order came from the Department of Finance, which has supervision over the customs bureau.

Montalbo’s alleged extortion activities were exposed by Deputy Customs Commissioners Ariel Nepomuceno and Jessie Dellosa.

What does that make of Lina?

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SPO1 Wilberto Blanco of the Quezon City Police District was killed on Monday when he shot it out with fellow policemen who were trying to arrest him for gunrunning.

Blanco was dismissed from the service in 2012, along with his brother, PO2 William Blanco, for reportedly “planting” drugs on an innocent citizen, kidnapping and making an illegal arrest.

Records show he was reinstated in 2013, probably along with his brother.

The Blancos are two among so many cops who were dismissed from the service by the Philippine National Police but were reinstated by the National Police Commission (Napolcom), the governing body of the PNP.

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Many years ago, several police inspectors (second lieutenant in the military), fresh graduates from the Philippine National Police Academy, were dismissed from the service by then PNP chief Bobby Lastimoso for beating up an old woman in a bar.

They were later reinstated by the Napolcom for reasons known only to the police body.

Those police commissioned officers, now chief inspectors (major in the Army), are probably still abusing civilians.

Years from now, one of them may even become the PNP chief.

Everything’s possible in this country where a politician who allegedly robbed his constituents blind when he was mayor might become our next president.

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Another notorious cop, Senior Supt. Crisostomo Valeroso, reinstated in the service by the

Napolcom, is now reportedly throwing his weight around as a member of the famous Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Valeroso was dismissed years ago after Alin Ferrer, my chief of staff in Isumbong mo kay Tulfo filed a complaint against him for manhandling her and putting her in jail.

A woman had complained to this columnist that Valeroso was demanding money from her for the release of her son whom he and his men had arrested on a supposed buy-bust operation.

I assigned Alin to pose as a relative of the woman to check on her complaint.

Alin had a hidden camera-cum-audio attached to a button on her shirt which recorded the conversation between the woman and Valeroso.

Indeed, Valeroso was demanding P100,000 from the woman.

Wise to the ways of entrapment, discovered the ruse and promptly arrested Alin.

Valeroso released Alin after I interceded with Chief Supt. Cipriano Querol, then chief of the National Capital Region Police Office.

As fate would have it, a Korean and his Filipino wife had complained to “Isumbong” that Valeroso had defrauded them of P700,000.

That’s how Alin and I came to know that Valeroso had been reinstated.