Ombudsman orders 2 Manila employees charged for forging subpoenas

Manila, Philippines - Acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro ordered the filing of criminal and administrative charges against two employees of the local government of Manila who were arrested for counterfeiting subpoenas.

Engineer Edwin Macadang­dang and Antonio Gapasin were caught in an entrapment by a team composed of personnel from the Office of the Ombudsman’ Field Investigation Office (FIO) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) National Capital Region office, according to a statement issued Friday by the Office of the Ombudsman.

The two are facing an administrative case for grave misconduct, usurpation of authority or official function and falsification by public officer.

The Ombudsman said the modus operandi of the two involved issuing bogus subpoenas, ordering government agencies to submit written documents to a specific post office (PO) box.

Gapasin and Macadangdang maintained PO Box 1180 at the Quezon City Central Post Office, which they registered under the name of one “Orlando C. Casimiro.”

In coordination with the PNP-CIDG, the FIO’s Intelligence Bureau monitored the alleged illegal activity of the two men. Gapasin was caught at the Quezon City Post Office, while Macadangdang was arrested at the Manila City engineer’s office.

 Director Beda Epres of the FIO’s Intelligence Bureau said they discovered the illegal activities of the two men when one of the victims transmitted his response directly to the Office of the Ombudsman instead of sending it to post office box.

 The two are currently detained in the PNP-CIDG office at Camp Crame.