OPERATIVES of the Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF) of the Philippine National Police arrested on Tuesday night a police chief in Pampanga for alleged extortion.
Chief Insp. Romeo Bulanadi, chief of police of Sasmuan, Pampanga, was arrested at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday during an entrapment operation right inside his police station.
A statement from the CITF said Bulanadi was entrapped after he extorted P30,000 from an operator of a fun fair called perya.
“Subject COP [chief of police] demanded P30,000 from a perya operator and prevented the latter to haul away their equipment unless the money was given,” the CITF said. “Subject personally received the marked money and was eventually arrested.” Bulanadi was taken to Camp Crame, the headquarters of the CITF, for further investigation leading to the possible filing of charges against him.
On Tuesday morning, the CITF also arrested six mulcting policemen and two civilians during an entrapment operation in Nueva Ecija.
Nabbed were SPO1 Antonito Otic, PO3 Danilo Sotelo, PO3 Ronald Buncad, PO3 Oliver Antonio, PO2 Rodrigo Edralin and PO2 Romeo Nuñez III, all members of the Carranglan Municipal Police Station in Nueva Ecija.
Also arrested were civilians Ramon Cabilangan and Darwin Lagisma, who acted as collectors of the erring policemen.
Chief Insp. Jewel Nicanor, spokesman of the CITF, said the entrapment operation was launched at around 1:20 a.m. at a checkpoint along the national highway in Barangay Digdig following reports of policemen extorting money from traveling merchants.
Chief Supt. Amador Corpuz, director of the Police Regional Office 3, welcomed the arrest of Bulanadi and the six policemen from Nueva Ecija, calling it part of the police leadership’s continuing effort to clean the Philippine National Police from misfits.