2 cops, 54 others charged for PNP fund theft

MANILA, Philippines - Two police officers face charges for allegedly stealing and encashing P7.63 million worth of missing and illegally transacted checks intended for the loans of employees of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group said yesterday.

Police Officer 3 Orlando Belen and Police Officer 3 Jovelyn Agustin reportedly committed the crime along with one Mervelyn Taguilaso and 53 others, according to CIDG director Chief Supt. Victor Deona.

Belen and Agustin, along with 54 people, have been charged with qualified theft and theft through falsification of public documents before the Taguig City prosecutor’s office, he added.

The two police officers will also face administrative charges before the PNP Internal Affairs Service, Deona said.

The investigation and filing of charges were in response to a request for assistance of the PNP Provident Fund Inc. in June 2014 after the attempted encashment of a check was first discovered sometime May last year, he added.

Belen and Agustin, together with their cohorts, orchestrated the illegal encashment of 78 stolen Provident Fund checks sometime in October 2013 at the Bicutan, Taguig branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Sr. Supt. Heriberto Olitoquit, CIDG Major Crimes Investigation Unit chief, said in his report.

Belen was the one who facilitated the anomalous act with Taguilaso and they enticed and recruited   people to pose as PNP non-uniformed personnel to encash the checks in exchange for P3,000 to P4,000, investigation showed.

Agustin, then Provident Fund finance loan processor, gravely abused the trust and confidence of the institution by stealing the PF checks, the report added.