COMBINED police operatives have arrested two men posing as local officials of Siquijor who reportedly tried to extort money from Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
In a press conference at the Senate, Zubiri said last August 14, he received messages from two persons who identified themselves as Siquijor Gov. Jake “Jec-jec” Villa and Board Member Abner Lomongo and asked for money for their continued support for him and for their political party’s convention.
Zubiri said he checked with the chief of staff of Sen. Nancy Binay, the wife of Villa, and determined it was a scam.
Pretending that he was taken for a ride, Zubiri told the impostors to meet with his staff members, who will hand them the P60,000 they wanted. He said the impostors agreed to meet in Castillejos, Zambales.
The following day, Zubiri’s staff members went to the meeting place but informed the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the meeting beforehand. The cops prepositioned themselves in the area and pounced on the suspects after they received the “boodle” money at around 10:30 p.m.
Col. Hansel Marantan, chief of the National Capital Region Crime and Investigation Division Group, identified the arrested suspects as Danilo Ledesma and Bryan Reyes Ledesma, who are engaged in online selling.
Seized from them were the marked money on top of the boodle money, a mobile phone with a SIM card used for the transaction, and identification cards.
Marantan said police also confiscated an unlicensed .45 caliber pistol loaded with seven bullets from Danilo Ledesma, who has a pending drug case.
Marantan said they announced the arrest of the suspects only yesterday since follow-up operations against the suspects’ two cohorts, identified as Kenneth Reyes Ledesma and Sarah Arciaga Contreras, were ongoing.
Zubiri said this is not the first time that impostors tried to prey on senators. During the 18th Congress, Zubiri said former Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Francis Tolentino were almost victimized via a similar modus operation.