Charges filed against police officer

CEBU, Philippines - A businesswoman from Liloan, Cebu filed criminal and administrative complaints against Senior Superintendent Vicente Mersan Premne before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, yesterday.

Aida Basergo filed the complaints for perjury, grave misconduct, dishonesty, falsification of private document, extortion, theft, acts unbecoming of a police officer, violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees and for any violation of rules and regulations of the PNP and civil service.

“I’ve been silent for how many years but this time I won’t,” she said in Cebuano.

In her affidavit, Basergo claimed that Premne stole her check and falsified it by way of extorting money from her after she won lottery in 2010.

“In the course of the various extortion attempts, Supt. Premne sent me text messages containing serious threats of bodily harm and injury to me and my family, sent extortion letters through LBC, harassed us all and has been prying into our privacy, all intended to make me give in to his demands for money,” the affidavit reads.

Prior to that incident, she said Premne befriended her.

“He introduced himself as a high ranking PNP officer which I later learned that he was in fact the acting officer-in-charge of the Mandaue City Police Office. After we met, Premne kept on frequenting my massage spa. He gave me unsolicited assurance that I will not have any problem with my business because of his position,” the affidavit further reads.

Left with no choice, Basergo said she gave money to Premne after the latter demanded from her for the alleged protection and security.

Premne constantly visited her spa and expressed his “fatal attraction and affection” which she did not entertain because she was married. She said despite her “protestations” still Premne continued to hang out in her spa.

On May 5, 2010, Basergo said she won a jackpot in the PCSO lottery. The jackpot prize was P52 million and since there was another winner, she said the jackpot prize was divided into two, thus she received P26 million.

She said despite her silence, Premne learned about it.

“Knowing fully well the character of Premne and what he is capable of, based on my experience, I intentionally kept secret about the money I won and avoided him as much as possible. It was during these times that he would stay in the spa all day in the hope that he will catch me. Good thing that my employees would inform me each time he was in the spa so I was able to avoid him most of the time,” the affidavit reads.

However, she said after Premne was able to confirm that she indeed won the lottery, her life became problematic.

One time, she said Premne told her that one of her checks was in his Possession and demanded a huge amount of money from her in exchange of the check. She added Premne threatened her.

Sometime in May 2010, she said Premne encashed the check worth P12 million but it was not honored by the bank. Basergo said the bank informed her about the matter which shocked her because she did not issue the amount.

“Why on earth would I give him that amount of P12 million when I have a family of my own and relatives who are in dire need of help more than any other person, much less to a stranger like the respondent? Neither do I owe him any debt or any valuable consideration for him to deserve such an enormous amount as payment,” she said.

She added she went to the bank and closed her account.

Earlier, she said she learned that Premne filed a criminal case of estafa against her because of the check.

She said Premne claimed that the amount given to him was out of “gratis” for his services for their security, which she belied.

Basergo accused Premne of making her a “milking cow.”

“For the information of the honorable investigator, Supt. Premne has been making me a milking cow even before I won the lottery. He has taken over my spa in Cebu City and Mandaue City, have even taken my car and transferred it to his name, received amounts of money from me under threat and so forth,” the affidavit reads. –/JPM (FREEMAN)