Fatima P. Gilboy (left photo) attempts to cover her face inside the detention cell of Camp Sotero Cabahug where she and her sister-in-law former BJMP Supt. Priscillana Gilboy are detained following their arrest by CIDG-7 operatives on Tuesday (April 3, 2018) for robbery extortion. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Former BJMP psychiatrist, sis-in-law accused of demanding money in favor of favorable exam results
She was excited to attend her daughter’s high school graduation.
But retired Jail Supt. Priscillana Gilboy would not be able to see her march on stage and get her diploma.
She ended up in jail after she was arrested in an entrapment operation on Tuesday afternoon, a day before the special day.
The 49-year-old mother, who availed of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology’s (BJMP) early retirement last March 30, was accused of extorting P20,000 from an applicant.
Arrested with Priscillana at a pizza parlor inside a mall in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, was her sister-in-law, Fatima, who allegedly transacted with the complainant.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) operatives were preparing to file charges of robbery with extortion against Priscillana and Fatima at the prosecutor’s office.
The crime, which involves force and intimidation of persons, is a bailable offense.
The two suspects, who were detained at the Cebu City Police Office, refused to issue any statement on the allegations hurled against them.
Priscillana’s lawyer, Rameses Victorius Villagonzalo, said they would contest the validity of the arrest made on the former jail official.
“There was no factual basis to arrest my client who was just eating with her husband and daughter inside a pizza parlor when she was arrested,” Villagonzalo told Cebu Daily News over the phone. He said Priscillana was preparing for her 18-year-old daughter’s high school graduation and would not engage in any illegal activity.
“Eating inside a pizza parlor is not a crime. More so, the respondent (Priscillana) was not in a position to extort money,” he said.
Chief Insp. Chuck Barandog, chief of the CIDG-7 Cebu City Field Unit, said they received a complaint from a BJMP applicant who was allegedly asked by Fatima to give P20,000 last week so he would pass the neuropsychiatric exam to be conducted by Priscillana, a BJMP-7 psychiatrist. The CIDG-7 declined to divulge the name of the complainant. But Barandog said the operation to entrap the suspects was hatched on Good Friday.
The complainant agreed to meet with Fatima outside a pizza parlor in a mall in Cebu City at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
When Fatima allegedly received the P20,000 from the complainant, she was immediately arrested by the CIDG operatives.
Also arrested was Priscillana who was eating with her husband and daughter inside the pizza parlor.
Based on their investigation, Barandog said Priscillana and Fatima connived to dupe BJMP applicants and even jail officers who would undergo neuropsychiatric examination for promotion. Usually, Barandog said the suspects would demand around P30,000 to P40,000, which is equivalent to the salary of a jail officer.
“This is not the first time they did this as shown in a lot of text messages we discovered,” Barandog said.
He encouraged other possible victims to come forward and file more complaints against the two suspects.
“Let us help the government recover the trust of the people,” Barandog said in a press conference on Wednesday.
In a press statement, the BJMP-7 condemned the alleged illegal activities of Priscillana and lauded the CIDG-7 for conducting an operation against its former psychiatrist.
Chief Insp. Dennis Aliño, legal officer of the BJMP-7, said they did not receive any complaint or report that Priscillana allegedly demanded money in exchange for a favorable result in the neuropsychiatric examination.
But with Priscillana’s arrest, he said there was a need to review the psychiatric examinations conducted by the former jail official.
Aliño said they were surprised with Priscillana’s arrest since they never heard of any extortion activities in the conduct of psychiatric examinations at the BJMP.
Last March 19, PO3 Ritchie Saquilabon, who was assigned at the Parian Police Station, was also arrested by Counter Intelligence Task Force for allegedly demanding P20,000 in exchange for the release of a drug suspect.
Saquilabon was indicted on charges of violating Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and was subsequently charged in court. All 39 policemen of the Parian Police Station were relieved following the arrest of Saquilabon while an investigation is being conducted by the Regional Internal Affairs Service.