The policemen were identified as PO1 Salvador del Mundo, PO1 Jefferson Gonzales and SPO3 Robert Castalione, all assigned at the Mandaluyong City police station. The fourth suspect, Dennis Soriano, an errand boy at the police station, was also nabbed by anti-drug operatives at the station at around 2:30 p.m.
Four other Mandaluyong cops were also invited for questioning by AID-SOTF agents to clear their names, said AID-SOTF team leader Superintendent Arnold Aguilar.
Aguilar and his team swooped down on the police station after they received complaints from the parents of two arrested drug suspects that the Mandaluyong cops were asking money in exchange of their freedom and the non-filing of drug charges.
The AID-SOTF raid on the police station created turmoil among the anti-drugs operatives and some station officers.
When sought for comment, Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela said he would not interfere in the investigation of the case, but he appealed to AIDSOTF operatives to conduct necessary coordination efforts with his officers or immediate station commanders next time to avoid any mis-encounter.
Initial reports said the three policemen sent Soriano as their "emissary" to get P20,000 from the mother of one of the drug suspects just outside the station. The money, already laced with ultraviolet powder, was placed by Soriano in a plastic bag before he went back to the police station to hand over the money to Del Mundo, Castalione and Gonzales.
Police pounced on Soriano shortly after he stepped inside the station. He also pointed to the three policemen as the ones who asked him to fetch the bribe money from the mother.
In their verbal complaint to AID-SOTF operatives, the drug suspects’ families claimed the local policemen demanded P100,000 and P50,000 from each of them.