QCPD: Car theft suspect riding on ‘hulidap’ issue

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) are decrying moves by a car theft suspect, who is the subject of several arrest warrants, in discrediting a police operation, tagging it as another case of “hulidap.”

Senior Inspector Rolando Lorenzo Jr., head of the QCPD’s anti-car theft section, said Honie Venus Fernandez and her employee Dandy Salumbides Vizcarra were riding on the issue of the EDSA brigandage case when they went on television and accused policemen of car theft and arbitrary detention. 

According to Lorenzo, Fernandez was turning the tables on them, despite records showing that the Mitsubishi Montero Sport found in her garage in January was a stolen vehicle. 

“The fact that the legitimate operation was done eight months ago and it is now only that they are talking about it in the media is a clear manifestation that the claims and allegations are merely reprisals and a desperate attempt to discredit this office that exposed their illicit activities and to extricate themselves from prosecution of the crimes they are perpetrating,” Lorenzo said. 

Lorenzo said Fernandez is the subject of arrest warrants for car theft cases in courts in Las Piñas and Manila and an estafa case with a Pasay court. She is also facing a case for violation of the anti-fencing law in a Las Piñas court.

‘Hot’ cars?

Fernandez’s allegations stemmed from when Vizcarra was accosted along Banawe Road in Quezon City last Jan. 30 for allegedly selling “undocumented secondhand” vehicle spare parts.

Lorenzo said when Vizcarra said the papers were at their office in Las Piñas,  policemen went there and saw five vehicles – all in the process of being dismembered – in the compound and brought them to Camp Karingal for verification.

It was during questioning that Vizcarra said the spare parts and vehicles belonged to Fernandez, he said.

A lawyer for Fernandez presented documents for the vehicles and spare parts and the items were released on Jan. 31 after a check of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) records showed that the vehicles were not the subject of any alarm for stolen cars.

However, another check of the records last Feb. 5 showed that one of the impounded vehicles was a Mitsubishi Montero Sport (TOC-784) taken at gunpoint from its owner in Pasay on Jan. 28, said Senior Police Officer 2 Pio Torrecampo.

According to Torrecampo, it appeared that the Montero Sport was only included on the list of stolen vehicles following an update of the HPG records on Feb. 4. 

Lorenzo said these discoveries made them think that Vizcarra and Fernandez presented falsified registration documents of the vehicles and they filed charges of car theft, fencing and falsification of public documents against Fernandez and Vizcarra.

Lorenzo said while Fernandez claimed to be involved in casino lending and trading in used cars and spare parts, “she is not an owner of any business registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue or the Department of Trade and Industry.”

He also claimed the case for robbery filed against them by the woman was “fabricated.” Fernandez filed charges of robbery, arbitrary detention and car theft against the QCPD with the National Bureau of Investigation.