Barangay councilors nabbed for fraud

Manila police nabbed two Pasay City barangay kagawads or councilors for allegedly misrepresenting themselves as employees of Manila City Hall’s bureau of permits and defrauding Manila’s business operators of hundreds of thousands of pesos.

Carlos Castro, 48, and Eva Roda, 46, both kagawads of Barangay 16, Zone 13, District 2 in Pasay City, reportedly offered to secure the business permits of Emily Sabang and Marita Frontera.

“The suspects asked for payments ranging from P15,000 to P100,000 from the victims for the processing of their business permits. What they issued in return are fake documents,” Senior Inspector Marcelo Reyes, chief of the investigation and follow-up branch of the Manila Police District (MPD)’s District Special Project Unit, said.

The two suspects were arrested in an entrapment operation after receiving marked money from their victims. Reyes said the Manila City Hall’s personnel department reported that the two suspects are not employees of the city government.

Manila Prosecutor Desiree Dayag-Macaraig approved the filing of the charges of falsification of private individual and use of falsified documents, usurpation of authority, estafa and graft against the two suspects.   – Nestor Etolle