Waterfront policeman arrested for extorting P4T
A police officer in Cebu City was arrested yesterday for allegedly demanding P4,000 for the release of a female detainee in the Waterfront police station.
PO2 Joselito Laspiñas was caught in an entrapment operation conducted by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) ine Plaza Independencia in downtown Cebu City.
Laspiñas was in police uniform when he was arrested around 4 p.m.
The policeman did not resist arrest. He refused to answer questions from the media.
NBI 7 Regional Director Max Salvador said the agency would file charges of extortion against the 51-year-old policeman with the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday.
The offense is bailable.
“The police force, in general, is good. But there are some officers who are walking along the wrong way. We would like to correct them because they ruin the image of law enforcers, including the NBI. One rotten apple in a basket should be removed as it might spoil the whole basket,” Salvador said.
The arrest stemmed from a complaint of Michael Detuya, a resident of barangay Tisa in Cebu City, who went to the NBI 7 office yesterday.
He said the policeman demanded P4,000 from him for the release from detention of Detuya’s girlfriend, a sales lady in a store on Colon street.
The sales lady was arrested by security guards of her workplace last Saturday for allegedly stealing three bags and two pairs of sandals.
The store owner, however, chose not to file a case against the female employee, who was six months pregnant, said NBI 7 Special Investigator Teodoro Saavedra.
Since no charges were filed against her, the woman was released from the Waterfront Police Station detention cell about 7 p.m. last night.
In a separate interview, the woman denied stealing the bags and sandals.
The policeman’s superior Senior Insp. Wayne Magbanua, said he was surprised by the arrest but would not condone it.
“If indeed, he committed a mistake, let him answer for it,” Magbanua said.
Laspiñas remains in the custody of the NBI-7 pending the filing of charges against him.
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