“Fake” cop, companion nabbed for guns, drugs

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Two men, one of them later found to be a “fake” policeman, were arrested by the Dumaguete City Police for allegedly possessing illegal firearms and drugs at Sitio Canday-ong in Barangay Calindagan of this city Thursday dawn.

The suspects were identified as Bhon Dizon, 25, and Rayniel Bernardo, 31, both residents of this city, who initially resisted arrests that resulted in a scuffle before being subdued by the lawmen.

Seized from the possession of Dizon, a resident of Barangay Bantayan were an Armscor Hi Cap .45-caliber pistol with magazine containing five live ammunition.

From the possession of Bernardo, seized were .45-caliber gun replica, four sachets of shabu, seven pieces of counterfeit P200 bills, a fired cartridge from a .45-caliber pistol, and a Rusi motorcycle.

Superintendent Jonathan Pineda, chief of the Dumaguete Police, said Bernardo was discovered as a “fake” police operative after the confiscation of his identification card as a “member” of the Eastern Visayas’ Crime Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) was seized from him.

Pineda said that, upon checking with the PNP database, there were no records found about Bernardo’s affiliation with the CIDG. Bernardo also has a certification from the Bureau of Corrections in Manila that he was discharged from the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa on May 16, 2015, after completing his jail sentence meted by a Regional Trial Court in Negros Oriental on June 23, 2011 for robbery with violence in 2008.

However, upon his return to the province, he was monitored to have frequented Canday-ong in Calindagan, Dumaguete’s hot spot on illegal drugs, and was also reported to be showing his gun while with his friends at Poblacion 8, where he has a live-in partner. Residents also told the police that he has been showing them his CIDG identification card.

Bernardo denied ownership of all the items seized from his possession and even presented his CIDG card, which he claimed to have been issued to him by his uncle who was assigned at the police headquarters in Eastern Visayas in 2016. Dizon also denied ownership of the firearm taken from his possession, apparently hinting that Bernardo was also its owner.

Pineda told The Freeman that the Dumaguete City Police are now preparing charges of usurpation of authority against Bernardo, and possession of illegal firearms and drugs charges that will be filed against him and Dizon.

Police are now looking at the possibility that the two suspects have been involved in several holdup incidents, particularly in Amlan and Mabinay towns. “’Yung isa kasi sa mga baril, replica, kaya posibleng ginagamit nila yun bilang panakot,” Pineda told The FREEMAN in a phone interview.

The Dumaguete Police are still investigating further about the alleged criminal past of the two suspects. Pineda said he is requesting those who were previously victimized by the two suspects to come forward and file complaints against them.