MANILA, Philippines — The Las Piñas City prosecutor’s office has indicted a teacher posing as a New People’s Army (NPA) rebel who was arrested last month for threatening schools in Metro Manila with bombings and mass shootings.
Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Norman Torneros found probable cause in indicting Jake Castro for robbery under Article 294 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.
The charges were filed in court after Castro, in the presence of his lawyer, executed an extrajudicial confession on April 26 wherein he admitted his direct participation in the commission of robbery extortion and giving a false bomb threat to a school in Quezon City.
The prosecutor dismissed the charges against a certain Dexter Gregorio, whom Castro earlier implicated in the crime, in the absence of material and leading evidence.
Castro, a teacher at a private school for poor children in Barangay Pamplona, was arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in an entrapment operation in Barangay Zapote on April 22.
CIDG National Capital Region field unit chief Col. Randy Glenn Silvio said Castro reportedly made similar threats to about 140 schools.
Castro’s modus operandi is e-mailing extortion messages demanding huge sums of money to various educational institutions in Metro Manila, Silvio said.
The suspect, pretending to be an NPA rebel, threatened the schools with bombings and mass shootings if his demands are not met.