Man who allegedly extorted P60,000 from cousin arrested

CEBU, Philippines - A man, alleged to be a hired killer, was caught in an entrapment operation at around 4 p.m. last May 14 at a fastfood outlet at the vicinity of the Fuente Osmeña Circle.

The suspect identified as Marcelino Paña, Jr. of Consolacion town alleged that he was asked by his cousin, Mary Ann Devon, to go after her husband Peter Devon, a Dutch national, and the foreigner’s alleged mistress, Virginia Comaya, so she could formally file a case against the two.

Paña said that while having his motorcycle repaired at a vulcanizing shop in the same building where Peter and Comaya reportedly live in, a little girl handed over to him a SIM pack. He said he then used the SIM [Subscriber’s Identity Module] and later that night, a woman called him and talked of “killing Peter”.

The suspect said that Comaya was the one who called him up. He added that he then started negotiations with Comaya as he was in “desperate need of money”.

However, last May 8 at around 3 p.m., Mary Ann received a letter accusing her as the one who hired the man to have her husband and mistress killed for P60,000.

The letter was allegedly given through a friend of Comaya and then reportedly given to a common friend of Mary Ann and Comaya’s friend. This made Mary Ann suspect that Comaya was the one who had indeed sent the letter.

She then sought for legal advice at the Investigation and Detection Management Section of the Cebu City Police Office. She was advised to “ride on” with the suspect while the policemen planned to have the suspect entrapped.

Last Thursday at past 1 p.m., the complainant reported to the IDMS-CCPO that the suspect asked for P10,000 as advance payment so he could have the mistress killed. The suspect asked if they could meet up at a fastfood outlet near the Fuente Osmeña Circle at around 4 p.m.

Police Chief Insp. George Ylanan of the IDMS formed a team for the entrapment operation. One of his men posed as a decoy and handed over the advance payment to the suspect, while the rest of the team positioned themselves strategically in the area.

The suspect immediately sat beside the decoy. Minutes later, the rest of the PNP personnel rushed to the place and arrested the suspect for extortion.

Much to her surprise upon finding out that the suspect is her cousin, Mary Ann reportedly exclaimed, “nganong imo man kong giunay”. — Ana Coritha Desamparado/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)