Police nab suspect in motorcycle ‘rentangay’ scheme

File photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A man was arrested on Sunday, May 25, for allegedly renting motorcycles that he would eventually sell or pawn using tampered documents.

Rocky Pastorpede Vaflor, 23, was arrested based on a warrant for a carnapping charge during a meetup with a potential buyer in Bacolod City.

Vaflor is a residence in Brgy. Tangub in Bacolod City.

According to Police Colonel Wilbert Parilla, chief of the Highway Patrol Group in Central Visayas (HPG-7), Vaflor would engage in the rental of motorcycles.  He would then tamper with the Official Receipt (OR) and Certificate of Registration (CR) which he would then use to sell or pawn the unit.

Motorcycle theft

Parilla said that in Cebu City alone, they already received two reports on motorcycle theft against Vaflor.  One of the complaints was filed by a motorcycle leasing company.

The suspected allegedly rented the motorcycle from the complainant in January 2025.  After five days, the suspect can no longer be reached.

The second complainant was a woman who allegedly leased her motorcycle to the suspect.

Moreover, two other victims have also surfaced in Bacolod City to accuse Vaflor of the same modus.

Parilla said that it took a short while for them to locate the suspect because he presented his real identify in each of the transactions that he entered into with his victims.

“This made it easy to trace him,” Parilla said.

In addition, Parilla said that Vaflor was a ‘novice’ in carnapping, the reason why he was immediately arrested by HPG-7 operatives, in coordination with Iloilo Provincial Police Office.  He would allegedly use his earnings on his vices.

Meanwhile, Parilla is urging car-leasing and motorcycle-leasing companies to always require their customers to open their respective LTO Portal accounts to confirm the legitimacy of their identities.