3 MMDA enforcers nabbed for extortion

Three traffic enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) were arrested yesterday for allegedly extorting P3,000 from a bus driver in Quezon City.

Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol said another MMDA enforcer was also arrested for trying to intervene as elements of the Central Police District (CPD) nabbed his companions.

Querol presented suspects Ruby Anne Bron, 31; Carlos Bueno, 30; Dennis Arce, 29; and Angelo Quingco, 28, to media at the satellite office of the National Capital Regional Police Office in Kamuning, Quezon City yesterday.

"The arrest of the suspects is part of our intensified anti-kotong operations as ordered by PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao," he said.

Last Monday, the four MMDA enforcers, assigned at the Balintawak area, arrested bus driver Jovito Francisco for operating on an expired franchise.

CPD director Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan said the suspects threatened to impound the RCJ bus even after the driver was able to present a temporary permit to operate from the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board.

The MMDA enforcers demanded P6,000 in exchange for letting him and his vehicle go. The amount was lowered to P3,000.

Francisco, however, reported the extortion try to his employers, who coordinated with Radovan for the arrest of the suspects.

A team headed by Superintendent James Brillantes, of the CPD district intelligence and investigation division, arrested Bron, Bueno and Arce after they received the P3,000 in marked money from Francisco during an entrapment operation at 7:30 a.m. yesterday, Quingco was later arrested for trying to intervene during the arrest of his companions. — Non Alquitran