4 ANTI-DRUG AGENTS IN HOT WATER FOR 'EXTORTION'

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Internal Affairs Service
(PDEA-IAS) will conduct its own inquiry into the alleged involvement
of four of its Baguio City agents in the reported extortion or
"hulidap" incident over the weekend.

Superintendent Bernardo Borrinaga, newly installed PDEA regional
director for the Cordillera, said he already forwarded the inquest
information to their central office with regard the arrest of Police
Officer 2 Erwin Morales Garcia by agents of the National Bureau of
Investigation (NBI)-Cordillera during an entrapment operation Saturday
night along Session Road.

Three other PDEA agents will also be included in the IAS investigation
for allegedly colluding with Garcia in extorting money from the wife
of a suspect they arrested during a supposed buy-bust operation in La
Trinidad, Benguet over a month ago.

"They will undergo the necessary investigation following due process
because in their deposition, they (PDEA agents) claimed that they were
elsewhere when the entrapment took place," Borrinaga said.

But he stressed that he already advised Garcia to get a good lawyer
because PDEA "was contemplating on the possibility of filing an
additional administrative charge against him."

This developed even as the NBI on Wednesday urged other victims to
come out into the open and file charges against the suspect or the
other respondents.

NBI Regional Director Ricardo Pangan Jr. said "we already received
several reports that this was not the first incident to be perpetrated
here in the past but we cannot just file additional charges against
the respondent and others who may have colluded with him without the
testimonies of other victims."

NBI records showed that at around 7 p.m. of December 10, NBI agents
arrested Garcia, 31, married, an operative of the PDEA regional
office, after he allegedly received a bundle of marked money from
Christian Emily Bartolome, a lady dentist, in her office along Session
Road.

This resulted after the complainant's husband Engelberth, was arrested
by Garcia and three other PDEA operatives for reportedly delivering
shabu to them during an alleged buy-bust at La Trinidad, Benguet, last
November 7.

The complainant narrated that "at around past six in the evening (of
Nov. 7), I called my husband through his cellphone but he didn't
answer. After several attempts, he finally answered and asked me to
see him at the PDEA office. I asked my husband what he was doing there
and he told me he was caught by the PDEA, adding he will explain (what
happened) to me when I get there."

Five minutes after reaching the PDEA office below the Melvin Jones
grandstand, she said one of the PDEA operatives approached and told
her they apprehended her husband and explained that because of the
gravity of his alleged offense, he may either face a life sentence or
even the death penalty. This operative was also said to have demanded
P250,000 from her to be given within 24 hours so they would drop the
charges filed against her husband.

"I pleaded to them that I can't afford to produce that sum of money
within that span of time, (so he) gave me an option to produce
P100,000 within 24 hours so that they will file a case of lesser
offense. I pleaded for their mercy since I can't produce (what they)
demanded (but they) never heard my pleas and left me with my husband,"
Bartolome said.

She said another PDEA operative also allegedly approached her and
said, "kahit umiyak ka ng dugo kung hindi rin lang pera ang tutulo
dyan, hindi mo matutulungan ang asawa mo." At this juncture, she said
her husband offered to give them his motorcycle and cellphone instead
but that they would not accept anything else aside from the demanded
money within 24 hours.

The next morning, November 8, she sought the assistance of her
relatives and one of her uncles, who knows Senior Superintendent
Isagani Nerez, the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) director, offered
to help her.

But when they reached the BCPO and were waiting for the arrival of
Nerez, they were surprised to receive a texted message from an
unregistered number asking them what they were doing there. "At that
time, I also received a phone call from my mother who was at the PDEA
office and who insisted that we get out from the BCPO or else the PDEA
agents will press higher charges against my husband. Fearing the PDEA
threat, I decided not to talk to (Nerez) anymore."

Bartolome said her husband was brought for inquest at the Benguet
Provincial Prosecutor's Office, and then to the PNP Crime Laboratory
at Camp Dangwa for a urine test.

"The PDEA agents brought my husband to (their) office for detention
but while we were on our way, (one of them) insisted that I need to
make a down payment of at least P20,000. I pleaded that I don't have
that much and informed them I only have P8,000, which they agreed to
and (they) instructed me how to deliver it to them," she continued,
saying this initial payment was made to three of them in front of a
bank along Harrison Road later that day.

On several occasions afterwards, Bartolome explained she met with
these PDEA operatives in different venues and was even able to record
one of their conversations on tape, which was turned over to the NBI
as evidence. During those conversations, they allegedly agreed to
issue to conflicting statements in court in exchange for an additional
amount of P100,000, half of which was to be given right away. The
initial payment of P50,000, however, was postponed several times upon
the advise of the assigned NBI agents.

On December 10, after reportedly exchanging text messages with Garcia
to set the exact time when she would give the money, she also made
final arrangements with the NBI agents, who posted themselves
strategically around the building where her clinic was located.

Although Garcia was reportedly alerted by his companions outside that
some NBI agents were posted around the place at that time, Bartolome
said it was too late when his cellphone rang because she already
handed him the marked money by then.

NBI forensic chemist Carina Madrigal said an examination under
ultraviolet light done on Garcia's both hands revealed the presence of
fluorescent specks and smudges, which indicated he held the marked
money.

Garcia is detained at the Baguio City Jail on charges for his alleged
violations of Article 211-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, or
qualified bribery, and Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft & Corrupt
Practices Law.