The chief tanod of barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City was arrested last Friday for handing out a P500 bill to get out of a traffic violation.
The man he offered it to turned out to be Joy Tumulak, operation head of the Cebu City Traffic Operation Management (Citom),
Winny Solitas, who also works as a taxi driver of Richelda Taxi, was arrested for offering a bribe.
“Mao man gud nay naandan. Abi nakog madala ra (Well, that was what I’m used to doing. I thought that it would be enough), Solitas told Cebu Daily News.
He said that he didn’t recognize Tumulak, who once worked as a radio correspondent for dyRF and dyHP.
Tumulak also writes for Superbalita as a correspondent.
“Karon ra ko nakahibaw nga siya diay si Joy Tumulak, pero nakabati nako niya pirme sa radio”, said Solitas. (It’s only now that I know who he is but I would often hear him on radio.)
Solitas was issued a citation ticket for not wearing a taxi driver’s uniform.
He also got a temporary operator’s permit (TOP) for trying to evade arrest when he handed over the P500 bill to Tumulak, who was then leading Citom’s Operation Kilum Kilum at 6 p.m.
Solitas was brought to the Fuente Police Station where he is now detained.
Tumulak said he would file a complaint for attempting to bribe a public official.
Tumulak said he and his men were posted at a checkpoint for Operation Kilum Kilum, when they flagged down a Richelda taxi driven by Solitas to check the taxi’s lights.
Operation Kilum Kilum is a Citom operation against public utility vehicles with defective lights.
Solitas didn’t stop and instead sped off to Colon Street where he was chased and apprehended.
When the traffic enforcers approached him, Solitas didn’t surrender his driver’s license.
Instead he took out a P500 bill and gave it to Tumulak, which prompted an order for arrest.
At the police station, Solitas identified himself as the chief tanod of barangay Pagsabungan in Mandaue.