2 more ‘ninja’ cops surrender

MANILA, Philippines - The two remaining police officers accused of kidnapping and extorting money and drugs from an inmate’s girlfriend surrendered yesterday.

Senior Police Officer 2 Jerry dela Torre of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Police Officer 3 Bernardino Pacoma of the Civil Security Group went to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame at around 10:30 a.m.

They were met by Deputy Director General Ramon Apolinario, PNP deputy chief for administration. After they were presented in a news briefing, the two policemen were turned over to the Counter-Intelligence Task Force for booking and medical examination.

They are facing cases of kidnapping, robbery-extortion, carnapping and planting of evidence. A “ninja” police officer resells drugs seized in legitimate operations.

President Duterte announced that he wanted captured dead or alive the police officers involved in the case and even offered a P2 million reward each for their arrest.

The two surrendered a day after five other police officers from the Malabon City police drug enforcement unit implicated in the same case surrendered at Camp Crame Friday night.

Apolinario said the two police officers surrendered after they observed nothing happened to the other policemen.

Unlike the other five – Police Officers 3 Michael Angelo Solomon and Luis Hizon Jr., PO2 Michael Huerto, PO1s Jovito Roque and Ricky Lamsen, who sought refuge in Palawan province – Dela Torre and Pacoma stayed somewhere in Metro Manila.

“We are in contact with a person who connected with them for their voluntary surrender,” said Apolinario.

Dela Torre and Pacoma were in handcuffs and in civilian clothes when they were presented to media men.

The seven policemen and four other operatives from the Malabon police anti-drug unit, who were captured early this week, allegedly conspired in kidnapping Norma Adrales on May 20 in Quezon City.

Adrales had just visited her boyfriend Raymond Bongabon, a drug convict at New Bilibid Prison, when the policemen snatched her from her home.