Over 200 BFP execs probed for recruitment racket

MANILA, Philippines — Over 200 officers and personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection are under investigation over  a “slot-for-sale” recruitment racket wherein applicants are assured of slots in the BFP’s roster in exchange for large sums of money.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has ordered an intensified crackdown after a BFP employee assigned in the National Capital Region was arrested in San Fernando, Pampanga for allegedly demanding payment from applicants.

“We are investigating over 200 people over the slots for sale (scheme). Again, I am warning you, I am serious and I will go after you,” Remulla said in a news briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.

All of the BFP’s 18 regional directors are included in the probe, Remulla said, while clarifying that there is no order yet for their administrative relief.

He said the alleged extortion ranges from P100,000 to P800,000 in exchange for a slot in the BFP.

Some 23,344 applicants are competing for the 2,504 available positions in the BFP’s recruitment quota this year.

The issue on the alleged rampant corruption in the BFP resurfaced after the arrest of one of its employees in Pampanga by operatives of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

CIDG director Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico II identified the 32-year-old suspect as Senior Fire Officer 1 Abigail Hermosora, who is facing a complaint of robbery-extortion in relation to Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, before the San Fernando prosecutor’s office.

Hermosora allegedly used a dummy Facebook account under the name Spence Tee in targeting applicants in the recruitment scam, demanding P500,000 in exchange for working in the BFP.

She implicated a senior official in the scam who was sacked as deputy regional director for administration of the bureau’s Calabarzon regional office.

Remulla said Hermosora’s case showed the extent of the web of corruption in the BFP wherein officials from separate regional offices are involved in criminal activities.

BFP director Chief Supt. Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan Tiu said their recruitment is now online to prevent human intervention, but admitted there are scalawags who are attempting to go around the system to earn money illegally.

He urged the Civil Service Commission to impose a quick response or number coding scheme in the BFP recruitment process to deter corruption.