In the late afternoon of Friday, June 12, a longtime friend, Nelia Lim, called to inform me that a mutual friend, Bel, needed my help.
Nelia told me that some policemen were trying to extort a big amount of money from Bel.
I learned from Nelia that Bel鈥檚 19-year-old son, Nikko, was arrested early morning Friday at the Philcoa area in Quezon City while trying to buy 鈥渟habu鈥� (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from a policeman who posed as a pusher.
When I called Bel, a single mother, she was in the office of the Station 6聽聽 chief of the Quezon City Police District in the Batasan area.
I told her to leave the office for a few minutes while I talked to her.
She claimed she was being pressured by the chief, Supt. Victor Pagulayan, and his men to come up immediately with P200,000. Otherwise, they would charge Nikko with the nonbailable offense of drug pushing, instead of the much lesser offense of drug possession.
Take note, dear readers, that Nikko was buying鈥攏ot selling鈥攕habu from a pusher-poseur. He should be charged with mere possession, not with pushing.
Besides, the cops were operating out of their jurisdiction as the Philcoa area is within the sphere of Station聽 9.
Bel said the Station 6 cops first demanded half a million pesos for Nikko鈥檚 release but that she had haggled with them into lowering it to P200,000.
At that moment she told Pagulayan she couldn鈥檛 produce the money as all the banks were closed鈥攊t was Independence Day, a holiday鈥攂ut she alleged that the police official was insisting she produce the money quickly.
I remember telling Bel: 鈥淏ide for time, tell them you can only come up with that amount on Monday. I will do the rest.鈥�
After talking to Bel, I called up Deputy Director General Leonardo Espina, Philippine National Police聽 officer in charge, and told him about Pagulayan鈥檚 alleged聽 negotiations with Bel.
Espina and this columnist agreed to set up a trap for Pagulayan on Monday.
The PNP鈥檚 acting chief said he would form a team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Camp Crame to entrap Pagulayan and his men.
On my part, I would produce聽 fake P500 and P1,000 bills in my office at 鈥淚sumbong Mo kay Tulfo鈥� which my staff and I have used many times for entrapment purposes.
I would have my staff submit the fake bills to the CIDG men so they could sprinkle invisible powder on it; the powder would be all over a subject鈥檚 hands when he gets arrested.
That was late Friday.
But on Saturday, Bel told me that Nikko鈥檚 father had gone to the station and started berating her for not producing the bribe money.
This gave the cops at Station 6 the idea they could force Nikko鈥檚 parents into coming up with the P200,000 bribe money immediately.
While Bel and Nikko鈥檚 father were arguing, they could hear their son whimpering in the next room. Apparently,聽 he was being punched in the stomach.
The father immediately produced the money.
After receiving the money, the cops gave them a veiled warning that they would get back at them if they revealed the bribery.
Bel told me the police know her address.
I texted Bel this message yesterday: 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry Bel. I will have to write about your experience with the Batasan precinct cops. I will mention the name of the police chief who allegedly negotiated with you for bribe money. If聽 the charges are true and I聽 don鈥檛 expose them, they will continue to fleece other civilians.鈥�