A CONFIDENTIAL agent of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) in Cebu City is facing a complaint that he allegedly sold a stolen vehicle to a businessman based in Iligan City.
Mario Real Saycon, an HPG asset, was identified as the person who sold a stolen Toyota Revo to Reynaldo Tan for P260,000.
Tan yesterday sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI) after his Toyota Revo was confiscated by another HPG unit in Iligan City last month for purportedly being a “carnapped vehicle.”
NBI 7 Supervising Agent Rennan Augustus Oliva said the office will file charges of estafa through falsification of documents against Saycon before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.
“The seller (Saycon) is based in Cebu City as manifested on the Deed of Sale and on his identification card,” Oliva said.
Online shopping
He said they have yet to verify whether or not the vehicle sold to Tan was among those impounded by the HPG.
In his complaint, Tan said he wanted to buy a Toyota Revo early this year, prompting him to search through AyosDito.ph, an online shopping site.
Tan found one Toyota Revo which he intends to buy.
He said a certain Mario Real Saycon, who introduced himself as the seller, left his contact details and mode of payments on the site.
He said he communicated with Saycon who claimed to be a confidential agent of the HPG.
Clearance
Believing that the person he dealt with is a person in authority, Tan immediately closed a deal with Saycon.
“In my mind, this guy is the right person to (deal with). (I believe) he has clean car documents without lien and encumbrances,” the complainant said.
Tan said he didn’t bother to make any verifications or scrutiny because he knew Saycon is connected with the HPG. He eventually got the Toyota Revo from Saycon after paying P260,000.
Last June, Tan went to the HPG office in Iligan City to secure a clearance for his vehicle as well as to transfer the vehicle registration or title to his name.
However, he was told that his newly-bought Toyota Revo was a carnapped vehicle.
Custodian
Based on the records of the HPG-Iligan, the vehicle was allegedly stolen in Quezon City sometime in 2002.
Tan said an HPG officer in Iligan confiscated his Toyota Revo.
The complainant confided to the NBI that Saycon used the name of SPO4 Edwin Galan, the former designated custodian of the HPG 7.
Galan is among the HPG officers facing charges of multiple and frustrated murder in relation to the ambush-murder of lawyer Noel Archival and companions in Dalaguete town, Cebu last Feb. 18.
“He (Saycon) name-dropped Galan. To prove that he is really an official of the HPG, Saycon told the complainant to refer to Galan,” said Oliva, the NBI team leader in the case as well as in the investigation on the death of Archival and his companions.
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