Luxury vehicle owner with No. 6 license plate charged

MANILA, Philippines - Police filed charges of carnapping and illegal possession of firearms Tuesday against the owner of the seized luxury vehicle sporting No. 6 license plate issued to Cabinet members.

Charged before the San Juan City prosecutor’s office was Mark Chua, owner of three high-end clubs and a chain of cellphone outlets in malls. Chua is a resident of Eastern Greenhills.

City prosecutor Tomas Ricalde and Assistant prosecutor Dinna Paulino recommended a P200,000 bail for the temporary release of Chua.

Metro police director Chief Superinendent Roberto Rosales ordered the filing of charges against Chua after he was not satisfied by his explanation as to how the controversial Range Rover costing P6 million was seized in the possession of his driver, Edison Andres.

Accompanied to his lawyer, Chua appeared before Rosales Monday invoking good faith when he bought the vehicle last year for P4 million with the No. 6 license plate already attached on it. He declined to name the person who sold the car to him.

The Range Rover was among the evidence confiscated by the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) during a raid at the compound of the Land Transportation Office Tuesday last week, which also resulted to the arrest of 14 people, including LTO employees Orlando Villaflor and Roberto Aristorenas.

Economic sabotage

Chua said the MK5 machine pistol found inside the luxury vehicle was registered under his name as he vowed to present the firearm’s documents before the court.

Rosales said they recovered documents showing that Chua was trying to register the said vehicle at the LTO not in his name. Chua paid his contact P200,000 for the new vehicle’s registration and plate number.

Villaflor and Aristorenas, along with the other arrested suspects were charged with economic sabotage thru falsification of public documents before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.

Additionally, Senior Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan sought the help of the crime laboratory of the Philippine National Police to trace the origin of the Range Rover.

“We have no records showing that the vehicle was stolen,” Cauyan told The Star.

He earlier claimed that the license plate of the vehicle found under the No. 6 plate was issued to a Nissan Patrol which was forcibly taken from its owner in 2006.