Extortion and bribery case in Misamis Oreintal, case close

Ma. Lourdes “Miami” Ebilane
May 8, 2008
Story: Extortion and bribery case in Misamis Oreintal, case close

The extortion and bribery case being investigated in Misamis Oriental is already closed.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has created task force Tagovill to investigate the extortion case on its Tagoloan Mayor Paulino Emano and bribery on part of Hanjin Industries and Construction Co.

“As for the alleged bribery and extortion cases, the investigators cannot anymore proceed with its investigation considering that the alleged complainants, Hanjin, for alleged extortion, and mayor Emano of Tagoloan for bribery said that there was no case to file at all because they deny what was reported previously in the papers and so the investigators cannot do otherwise but to close the case because there is no case to start in the first place,” PNP-Public Information Office (PIO) Chief, Nicanor Bartolome said in a pres conference in Camp Crame.

He also added in his explanation that in an investigation, the investigators need to find out who are the complainants. If there are no complainants in the case, there is no case at all. The alleged complainants said there is no such thing that transpired.

But members of the task force Tagovill are still in Tagoloan to investigate the mauling incident that transpired last April 26, 2008. “They are the once who will investigate the mauling incident because they thought it is also related to the extortion and bribery,” Bartolome said.

The driver of Hanjin was allegedly assaulted by the personnel of Tagoloan Mayor. The motive still being investigated.

On the statement of DP/Dir. Jefferson Soriano, Director for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) head of Task Force Tagovill, he said their team in Tagoloan found out that a certain Arturo Baz of Hanjin was physically assaulted by persons identified with the Tagoloan Mayor.

According to Baz, he was instructed by the project engineer, Mr. Jong Song Lee, to assist in the conduct of ocular inspection in the training area when he was accosted by several men whom he learned to be associated with mayor Emano and one of them punched him twice on the head.

The suspects was identified as Mr. Amando Pomar, an elected municipal kagawad of the town of Tagoloan and a certain Roger Achas, a former barangay captain of said town were present in the vicinity purposely to serve the work stoppage order issued by the municipal mayor when the said confrontation took place.

However last April 30, Mayor Emano lifted the stoppage order after he met President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other local and national officials at the VIP Lounge at the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, “after realizing the economic importance of such project to the local government and the whole country,” Emano said in his affidavit.