Minda police officers face extortion raps

Two Police Non-Commissioned Officers assigned at the Regional Special Training Unit-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region are now facing charges for alleged extortion activities.

According to Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group chief Brig. Gen. Warren de Leon, joint teams from IMEG-Mindanao Field Unit in coordination with RSTU-BAR chief Lt. Col. Micahel John Deloso had filed charges against PSSG Mark Anthony Palma and Pat. John Gerald Tucas for violations of Article 294 (5), Simple Robbery (Extortion) of the Revised Penal Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard.

"With the implementation of Oplan Bansay or Bantay sa Pagsasanay, our Training Internal Cleansing program, we were able to gather information on the alleged extortion activity perpetrated by these two active PNCOs who were supposed to be the role models of the trainees being their trainers and mentors while undergoing the Basic Internal Security Operations Course," De Leon said.

Based on the information report received by the IMEG-Mindanao Field Unit, an alleged extortion activity transpired on 2 September involving the trainees of BISOC in RSTU-BAR. Reports said the two trainers allegedly demanded P60,000 from the BISOC students in exchange for a more lenient treatment accorded to their class during the course of the training.