Acting Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella ordered Senior Supt. Noli Romana, head of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), to pursue the administrative case of grave misconduct and dishonesty against the policeman who was caught in an entrapment operation Monday.
PO2 Joselito Laspiñas may also lose his P2,000 monthly allowance from the city government.
Labella, who heads the city’s Police Coordinating and Advisory Council (PCAC), is saddened by the arrest of the policeman but said it is an isolated case.
Labella is hopeful that Laspiñas’ arrest would serve as a “wake up call and would remind the other police officers on their accountability to their public office.”
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 yesterday filed charges of robbery-extortion at the City Prosecutor’s Office.
When presented before Assistant City Prosecutor Noel Cellona, Laspiñas chose not to undergo preliminary investigation which could have given him the chance to file a counter affidavit and refute the allegations.
Cellona recommended that the case against the accused be elevated to the Regional Trial Court. The offense is bailable.
Laspiñas was caught in an entrapment operation conducted by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) inside Plaza Independencia in downtown Cebu City last Monday afternoon.
Michael Detuya, of barangay Tisa in Cebu City, sought the help of the NBI after Laspiñas purportedly extorted P4,000 for the release of his pregnant live-in partner who was detained on allegations of stealing bags and pairs of shoes from a downtown store.
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