Three members of the Manila Police District were arrested by elements of the Philippine National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group Monday night for alleged extortion.
P/SSg. Erwin Licuasen, 34; P/Cpl. Rey Importa, 32; and Patrolman Leopodo Tuason, aged 39, were nabbed after allegedly receiving P2,000 in marked money from the owner of an impounded tricycle.
PNP-IMEG operatives entrapped the three right inside their outpost at the Paco Police Community Precinct under MPD Station 5.
On his first day of duty as MPD chief, an irked P/Brig. Gen. Andre Dizon ordered the relief of all police officers assigned at the Paco PCP, as well as their transfer to the MPD general headquarters along United Nations Avenue.
One Frank Alba, a resident of Sampaloc, Manila, filed the complaint against the three cops after he was caught driving the tricycle without a license while counter-flowing against traffic.
During the arrival ceremony prepared for him by MPD officials, Dizon expressed dismay over the extortion charges leveled against the three Manila policemen. He warned his new wards that any wrongdoing by them would not be tolerated.
“You are all men of honor and you should abide by the words inscribed at the gate wall of the MPD,” he said, referring to the motto, “Let it be known that in this little part of the world, men know how to die.”
The three suspects were brought to Camp Crame for booking and detention.
The PNP-IMEG is a counter-intelligence group tasked to weed out crooked cops. It may be reached by the public through its hotline numbers 0998972286 and 09957952569. It is an entity separate from the Internal Affairs Service of the PNP, the lead agency in the campaign against all forms of police misconduct and corruption.
Dizon took over as MPD head from P/Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, who has been assigned as provincial director of Region 6 in the revamp ordered by PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr.