Air Force Lt. Gary Guinto (right, seated) and fellow Air Force officers are seen at the Warrant Section of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office. (CDN PHOTO/NORMAN MENDOZA)
THE four Philippine Air Force personnel who were arrested last Tuesday based on warrants for a case of estafa issued by a court in Ormoc City, Leyte were released yesterday after posting P40,000 bail each.
Lt. Gary Guinto, 30; Staff Sgt. Elmer Dela Cruz, 40; Sgt. Angelo Rosema, 38; and Sgt. Gilbert Demayuga, 36, all members of the Philippine Air Force under the 560th Air Base Wing of Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base, were placed under arrest last Tuesday afternoon by virtue of a warrant of arrest for an estafa case.
They were turned over by the PAF Squadron Commander after the Lapu-Lapu City police led by SPO4 Remegio Ngujo failed to locate them at the air base last Monday. Ngujo and his team left a message to 1st Lt. Emmanuel Palicpic, squadron commander, to surrender the four officers to the police.
Ngujo said the arrest warrants came from the Regional Trial Court Branch 35 of Ormoc City, issued by Judge Girlie Borrel-Yu, the presiding judge for the crime of estafa.
Ngujo said that the Air Force officers failed to settle their obligations in a lending firm, but Ngujo didn’t have the complainant’s information nor the amount involved.
The Air Force officers were brought to the City Prosecutor’s Office in Lapu-Lapu City where a P40,000 bail was set for each one’s temporary release.
However, they failed to post bail on time and had to spend a night in detention at the Lapu-Lapu City police detention cell.
After they posted bail yesterday, the Air Force officers were turned over to Palicpic, their squadron commander, who will conduct his own investigation against the officers.