Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Wednesday vowed to conduct a thorough probe on a city hall official’s relative caught extorting from a food establishment.
Belmonte said Enrico Morillo, brother-in-law of City Planning Office chief Pedro Rodriguez, was arrested allegedly in the act of receiving a bribe within city hall premises.
“We cannot tolerate anyone for that matter, even if one is a relative of a city hall employee. We know that there will be no room for corruption here,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Quezon City Police District on Wednesday ordered its 12 station commanders to intensify anti-criminality operations as the “ber” months begin.
Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., QCPD director, said based on past observations, the start of the “ber” months up to the holiday season showed a slight increase in crimes such us robbery, theft and physical injury.
The National Bureau of Investigation nabbed Morillo in an entrapment operation while receiving P175,000 from an establishment operator as an “amicable settlement” in exchange for the dismissal of a complaint regarding the presence of a cockroach in the complainant’s food.
“It has come to my attention that the Office of the City Planning has been recently involved in an entrapment operation by the NBI that led to the arrest of a kin of Mr. Rodriguez,” the mayor said.
Belmonte vowed to fully cooperate with the NBI’s investigation as she expressed disappointment over the alleged extortion.
She urged other food establishments to stay vigilant against syndicates preying on restaurants and food shops for huge sums of money.
Esquivel said criminality during the last four months of the year could be attributed to the usual merry-making brought about by the vibrant economic activities leading to Christmas.
People with criminal intent who prey on hapless victims take advantage of this period, he added.
“During the ‘ber’ months, most businesses are booming. People have more money, and that they would just want to enjoy the holiday season. This is being abused by lawless elements,” Esquivel said.
“This is why I ordered station and other unit commanders to increase police presence with the help of other force multipliers by conducting anti-criminality operations, such as checkpoint, Oplan Sita, Oplan Bakal, Oplan Galugad and Oplan Katok to prevent crimes,” he said.
“We want the people to be safe and secured in the streets, at homes, work-place and anywhere in Quezon City to enjoy the holiday season by not being victimized by criminals,” the police chief added.
According to Esquivel, from January to August, villages that registered the most number of index crimes are barangays Socorro at 156 incidents, followed by Batasan Hills, 92; Bagong Pag-asa and Fairview, both 89; Commonwealth, 83; Payatas, 81; South Triangle, 67; Greater Lagro, 64; E. Rodriguez, 54, and Holy Spirit, 45.
Robbery, theft, car theft, physical injury, homicide and murder are classified as index crimes.
Esquivel said the station commanders having jurisdiction over those barangays must coordinate with the village officials and map out plans to improve security measures in their areas of responsibility.