Radio man nabbed on extort charges

A 71-year-old radio commentator in Laguna, who has been allegedly harassing shuttle bus operators in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, for protection money, was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

In a sting operation, Nap Dineros, 71, of Iriga Street, Country Homes Subdivision, Putatan, Muntinlupa was collared by agents of the Businessmen’s Complaints Office (BCO), the anti-high profile crime unit of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), in the city.

Dineros was arrested while receiving P2,000 in marked money from Eduardo Francisco, operations chief of SEGS Shuttle Transport Company inside a restaurant in Alabang.

Dineros, said to be a member of the Samahan ng mga Komentarista ng Pilipinas (SAKOP), who introduced himself as the leader of traffic volunteers deputized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) assigned at the Alabang viaduct, was the subject of a complaint filed with the CIDG-BCO by Francisco for extortion and harassment.

Francisco told CIDG director, Chief Superintendent Nestorio Gualberto, that since last year, his company had been forced shell out, on a monthly basis, P4,000 as protection money to Dineros.

He added that those who refused to give protection money suffer the consequences, as MMDA deputies flagged their buses down without any traffic violation.

Dineros, who was taken to Camp Crame for investigation, denied the accusations against him. He expressed disappointment, saying that instead of being commended for doing volunteer traffic work in Alabang, he got arrested.

When frisked, he yielded oversized media and MMDA identification cards, one of them showing he was a radio commentator of dwBL, a radio station in Los Baños, Laguna. – Jaime Laude