2 traffic cops arrested for mulcting

Two traffic policemen were arrested by elements of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) for allegedly extorting money from motorists along Roxas Boulevard.

The arrest of PO3 Danilo Gamaya, 29, and SPO1 Elmer Lirio, of the Parañaque City and the Western Police District Traffic Enforcement Group, respectively, came after Metro Manila police chief Director Edgar Aglipay ordered a renewed crackdown on "kotong" cops.

Aglipay ordered the holding of summary dismissal proceedings against Gamaya and Lirio, who are detained at the Counter Intelligence Special Unit at the NCRPO headquarters at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

"The arrest of the two "kotong" cops should warn others that we are still in the thick of our campaign against scalawags in the police force," said Aglipay. "They better reform or suffer the fates of Gamaya and Lirio."

Both Gamaya and Lirio chose to remain silent when asked for comment on the charges against them.

Gamaya and a terminal dispatcher, Bonifacio Ruado, of Miranda Compound, Bacoor, Cavite were arrested Wednesday by men of Chief Inspector Arnold Aguilar, CISU chief, after receiving P500 from bus driver, Alexander Catubo, 38.

According to Catubo, Gamaya flagged him down in front the Redemptorist Church along Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City on a trumped up traffic violation charge at about 5:30 p.m. — Non Alquitran