Printing press raided

Police arrested five people and confiscated some 3,000 pornographic magazines during a raid at a printing press in Pasig City Monday.

One of those arrested, Noel Cimatu, owner of Contour Printing Press located at 28-C Raymundo Avenue, Barangay Sagad, allegedly tried to drop the name of Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu in stopping the raid but policemen arrested him anyway. The suspect said he was a relative of the Southcom chief.

Aside from Cimatu, the raiders led by Superintendent John Sosito, Pasig City police chief, also arrested Rolly Villanueva, 49, and Napoleon Cortez, 38, both press operators and Victor Pulido and Ildefonso Cayugo, 43, both computer artists.

The raiders armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Alicia Mariano of Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 161 swooped down at the establishment after a week-long surveillance which confirmed that the printing was manufacturing pornographic materials.

The raiding team confiscated some 3,000 copies of the "Rated X", magazine displaying pictures of nude male models. The magazines were sold for P120 each on the street.

During interrogation, Cimatu named a certain Jude Sadiata as the person who contracted his firm to print the magazines. He claimed that he did not know that the magazine publishes pornographic pictures. He also denied knowing Bunny Cheng, the alleged the editor-in-chief of the magazine, and Roberto Tullao, the circulation manager and publisher, respectively of the Bistado Publishing with an office address in Mandaluyong City. — Non Alquitran