The recently approved 100-percent increase in their salary was apparently not enough for some members of the Southern Police District (SPD) to stop looking for extra sources of “income.”
Five officers under the SPD’s District Special Operations Unit (DSOU) were arrested on Wednesday for demanding P200,000 in exchange for the release of an illegal gambling collector.
SPD spokesperson Supt. Jenny Tecson identified the arrested policemen as PO3 Simon Respicio, PO2 Jimmy Abadines, and PO1s Randy Mangubat, Kervilyn Dugyawe and Moli Esmail.
The five officers arrested 55-year-old Roselyn Genorga on Tuesday night in Barangay 201, Pasay City. They caught her collecting bets for “loteng”—a game that combines the results of lotto draws and the illegal numbers racket jueteng—from unidentified male players in the area, Tecson said.
Recovered from Genorga were P153 in cash and her collection booklet. She was brought to the DSOU office to be booked for inquest proceedings for violation of Republic Act No. 9287, a 2004 law increasing penalties for illegal gambling.
That same night, however, one of the five policemen called up a daughter of Genorga to tell her about her mother’s detention.
Quoting the daughter, Tecson said the officer on the phone said Genorga was arrested on a drug-related charge but that “we can help her get released much easier by changing the charge to illegal gambling.”
Tecson pointed out that DSOU members were not authorized to conduct antidrug operations unless they were asked to provide support.
The policemen initially demanded P200,000 but settled for P50,000 after some haggling. At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Genorga’s daughter handed P25,000 to Respicio as initial payment. The four other officers were also in the office.
A team that included Tecson, SPD director Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, and Supt. Joel Pernito, chief of the District Directorial Staff, arrived minutes later at the DSOU office in the SPD headquarters in Taguig to place the five under arrest.
The DSOU members admitted receiving money from the Genorgas and the cash was later recovered from their locker room, Tecson said.
Apolinario also ordered the suspension of all 17 DSOU personnel, including their head, Supt. Rolando Baula, his deputy Chief Insp. Allan Rainer Cabral, and team leader Senior Insp. Oscar Pagulayan, for investigation.
“It’s just sad and disappointing that even after our salaries were already doubled, we still have a few colleagues who do this for extra money,” Tecson said, referring to the pay increase for police and military personnel approved by President Duterte early last month.