Mt. Province mayor nabbed for extortion

BAGUIO CITY — For allegedly forcing a drug company to shell out a 15 percent "commission" from his town’s medicine deal, the mayor of Barlig, Mt. Province is now facing robbery, extortion and anti-corruption charges.

Barlig Mayor Crispin Fias-iloy was brought to the prosecutor’s office here yesterday after agents of the National Bureau of Investigation-Cordillera led by lawyer Darwin Lising caught him in the act of receiving marked money for the supposed commission. He refused to talk to reporters.

Anthony Portes, a medical representative of the Blessed Safe John pharmaceutical firm based here, claimed that Fias-iloy demanded the 15 percent commission from his company’s P302,748 medicine deal with the municipal government.

The NBI-Cordillera said Fias-iloy actually demanded P45,000, but Portes said they only "offered" him P10,000 for the medicine purchase intended for the Barlig District Hospital.

Portes said the mayor began nagging his firm on the alleged commission when it demanded payment for the deal.

He said his company won the bidding for the medicine supply last March and delivered the medicines the following month.

Last June 9, Portes said he went to Barlig since the check for the payment was ready. But he said Fias-iloy instead asked that they meet in Bontoc, the provincial capital, where the mayor allegedly demanded the 15 percent commission.

Lising said Fias-iloy was arrested during the payoff at the Sunshine Lunch restaurant along Session Road here.