AFP-Jago employee nabbed for extortion

A senior administrative assistant of an office under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was arrested for robbery extortion on Thursday, after allegedly demanding  money from the widow of a slain soldier in exchange for the release of her husband’s pension benefit. 

Personnel of the Quezon City Police District’s special operations unit collared Luzviminda Valenzuela, a 61-year-old employee of the AFP Judge Advocate General Office (Jago), around 2 p.m. inside a restaurant  in Cubao, Quezon City.

In April last year, Lanie Mahinay, 46, sought the suspect’s help to claim the pension of her late husband Pfc. Ernesto Mahinay who was  killed in action in Surigao del Sur province in May 1989.–JHESSET ENANO