Fake P1,000 bills seized in Bulacan

CALUMPIT, Bulacan – Police seized counterfeit P1,000 bills worth P150,000 during a raid on the house of a former municipal councilor here Monday.

Authorities fear that the fake peso bills might be used in the barangay elections in October.

Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina, acting provincial police director, said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was confirming if the fake P1,000 bills were the same ones confiscated in Ilocos Norte and Laguna last week.

Acting on an informant’s tip, combined elements of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group and the Calumpit police raided the house of former councilor Rufino Tolentino in Barangay Iba O’Este, armed with a search warrant from Malolos City Regional Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Nieves.

Superintendent Prudencio Legazpi, director of the 306th Provincial Mobile Group, said a total of 150 counterfeit P1,000 bills were seized, along with a caliber .45 pistol, a caliber .38 revolver and two grenades.

Tolentino and Ramon Torres, a councilman of Barangay Panducot here, were arrested in a follow-up operation, while Renato Odi was nabbed during the raid.  – With Ric Sapnu