PNP reviews ‘vaccine for sale’ raps

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Guillermo Eleazar has ordered a review of the charges against whistle-blower Nina Ellaine Dizon-Cabrera as he vowed sanctions against the police officers who filed them if it turns out they committed lapses in their investigation of the alleged “vaccine for sale” scheme.

“Kung merong lapses diyan ay dapat itama at siyempre, consequently may mananagot (If there are lapses then they should be corrected and of course, consequently someone should be held liable),” he told dzBB yesterday.

Eleazar on Thursday night ordered the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Anti-Cybecrime Group (ACG) to review the complaints after he read Cabrera’s statement on her social media account and was made aware of a television interview wherein she aired her side on the alleged sale of vaccine slots.

He clarified it is too early to tell if all police officers who handled the case committed an error in their decision to include Cabrera in the charge sheet.

Eleazar assured Cabrera that he will monitor the actions to be taken by the CIDG and the ACG on his directive.

The CIDG filed complaints against Cabrera and two others for estafa, violation of Republic Act 11032 or the Anti-Red Tape Act and RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act before the Mandaluyong prosecutor’s office on Monday.

Cabrera, chief executive officer of Colourette Cosmetics, is considering filing counter-charges against the PNP for implicating her in the alleged scam that she herself exposed.

Lt. Col. Arnold Moleta, who heads the CIDG’s Eastern Metro Manila District Field Unit, said they based the charges on Cabrera’s conversations with the supposed seller, screenshots of which she posted on Twitter.

In a television interview on Thursday, Moleta said that based on the ACG’s technical investigation, “we saw she had a transaction with someone, according to her post on her Twitter account.”

Moleta pointed out that the sale of COVID-19 vaccines is not allowed in the country, and that Cabrera knows who sells the vaccination slots.

Cabrera said she was looking to buy vaccines for her employees when she saw a post on Instagram selling vaccines.

She said she did not continue with the transaction when she learned the seller was not selling jabs but vaccine slots from local
government units, and posted screenshots of her conversations with the seller on Twitter on May 21 to alert the authorities.

“I am completely baffled as to how they got to that conclusion when I posted it myself. Why would I expose myself?” she said in an interview over ANC.

Cabrera commended Eleazar for “being a man of integrity,” noting that he is “ready to correct the mistakes of his men.”

She said police officers who filed the charges against her should have scrutinized all her posts on Twitter first before including her in the complaint sheet.