2 ‘live-in’ cops sued in PNP fund scam

TWO POLICE officers—who are live-in partners—and their 52 alleged accomplices are facing charges over an alleged scam that has siphoned off more than P7 million from the financial assistance fund of the Philippine National Police.

The PNP on Tuesday said it had lodged complaints for qualified theft and theft through falsification of public documents against PO3 Jovelyn Agustin, a loan processor at the PNP Provident Fund Inc., and her live-in partner, PO3 Orlando Belen, a member of the PNP Highway Patrol Group.

Also named respondents in the complaint initiated by the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group are 52 civilians led by Mervelyn Taguilaso, a Las Piñas City resident whose home yielded documents now being used as evidence against the suspects.

The complaints were filed on Oct. 27 in the Taguig City prosecutor’s office following an investigation that took more than a year, according to the CIDG director, Chief Supt. Victor Deona.

In a report that formed the basis of the complaint, Senior Supt. Heriberto Olitoquit, head of the CIDG Major Crimes Investigation Unit (MCIU), said the suspects “orchestrated” the scam starting October 2013.

Agustin allegedly “stole” and issued 78 Provident Fund checks worth a total of P7.63 million to bogus nonuniformed PNP personnel and had them cashed by their accomplices at a LandBank branch on General Santos Avenue, Upper Bicutan, Taguig City.

The accomplices would then take a cut of P3,000 to P4,000 each, Olitoquit’s report added.

According to CIDG spokesperson Chief Insp. Elizabeth Jasmin, the funds are intended for PNP employees who can take out loans at minimal interest. “(Loan applications) are lined up for approval, depending on the availability of funds,” Jasmin explained.

But the investigation found out that the people who made withdrawals were not in the PNP roster.

The modus operandi was discovered in May 2014 when LandBank called up PNP Provident Fund Inc. to ask why requests for withdrawals continued despite the unavailability of funds. The CIDG launched a “full-scale investigation” a month later, Deona said.

On Sept. 28, a CIDG team, armed with a warrant issued by a Manila court, searched Taguilaso’s residence at Del Monte Subdivision, Almanza Uno in Las Piñas.

Recovered from the house were five fake PNP IDs for nonuniformed personnel and an original Landbank document on the checks issued and canceled at the Bicutan branch.

Deona said the recovered evidence “clearly described and illustrated the participation and role of each individual in committing the anomalies.”

Jasmin said Agustin and Belen also faced administrative charges in the PNP Internal Affairs Service, and that follow-up operations were ongoing against the other suspects.

But Agustin and Belen remained in active duty on Tuesday, with the former reportedly securing the service of a defense lawyer.