2 nabbed for robbery extortion

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – A customs employee and a 38 years old woman who introduced herself as the secretary general of ANAK partylist  were arrested for robbery-extortion in separate entrapment operations in Cavite and Laguna, reports said.

Senior Superintendent Mark Edison Belarma, Criminal  Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG4A) regional director, said the suspect Catherine Canoy, who claimed to be a top ranking officer of ANAK partlylist, was nabbed by the combined elements of the Napolcom and CIDG-Cavite inside the McDonald’s fastfood chain in Noveleta, Cavite, at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

Belarma said Canoy who is preying on applicants for Napolcom police entrance examination was charged with robbery-extortion before the Cavite prosecutor’s office yesterday.

The operation stemmed from the complaints of Frederick Rojas and Reil Manalo, residents of General Trias, Cavite, and both police applicants. According to Belarma, Rojas and Manalo had just passed the Napolcom examination through their own efforts. However, the suspect insisted that she facilitated  their passing the said examination.

Belarma said the suspects threatened Rojas and Manalo that the result of their examination would be nullified if they will not give the remaining balance of P5,000, adding that the two already gave the initial  amount of P23,000 each to her on Nov. 26, 2006 before  they took the exam.

The two applicants  referred the matter to the Napolcom office and requested the CIDG4A for police assistance, to set-up an entrapment operation against the suspects.

Further, in Calamba City, a Customs employee Carlo Serano was nabbed by the police in an entrapment operation at the LISP2 compound in Calamba City, Laguna at around 6:30 p.m. yesterday. The arrest of Serano stemmed from the complaints of Melisa Capalos, employee of JE Torres Trading, Bucal, Tanza in Cavite.

Serano demanded a huge amount for protection money and stock shares for Capalos’s scrap business.  – Ed Amoroso