July 2, 2008 MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court ordered the arrest of the brother of veteran radio broadcaster Joe Taruc and a policeman who are facing a robbery charges for allegedly stealing P14 million worth of scrap materials in 2004.
Judge Afable Cajigal of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96 issued arrest warrants against Antonio Taruc and SPO4 Ed Delos Reyes for failing to appear before their scheduled arraignment on April 28 and June 30, respectively.
With the issuance of warrants, Cajigal also ordered the confiscation of the P50,000 bail posted by Taruc last March 28 for his provisional liberty. Delos Reyes - who is assigned at the Quezon City Police Community Precinct 1 - has yet to post bail.
Aside from Taruc and delos Reyes, also charged for robbery are Inspector Judge Genio, PO3 Nestor Bersamina, and Tess Mendoza.
Mendoza - who is out on bail after posting P50,000 bond - was already arraigned last May 30 while the court deferred arraignment proceedings for Genio and Bersamina pending the resolution of a motion for reconsideration they filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The case stemmed from the complaints of the VS Energetics Inc. represented by Victorino Sianghio Jr, who claimed that the respondents conspired in stealing the P14-million worth of scrap materials from a stockyard in Sauyo Road, Novaliches, Quezon City in the early morning of October 21, 2004.
These include generator sets, pole line hardware and other unserviceable items which were bought by the complainant from the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
Records showed that Mendoza, reportedly an agent of Taruc, together with the co-accused police officers and about ten armed policemen swooped down on the stockyard and insisted on getting the scrap materials.
Genio allegedly showed a gate pass allegedly signed by Sianghio to the duty security guard to said he had to verify first the authenticity of the gate pass.
Genio allegedly insisted on withdrawing the scrap materials which prompted the security guard and his companions to block the path of the police car. But the respondent police officers allegedly pointed their guns at the security guards prompting them to retreat.
The complaint stated that Genio even allegedly threatened to run over the head security guard who stood in the way of the police officers.
As a result, Taruc’s group was able to get the scrap materials, with the accused police officers escorting the trucks all the way to a junk shop in Valenzuela.
Genio and Bersamina both denied the charges while Taruc failed to submit his counter-affidavit during the preliminary investigation of the case at the Office of the Ombudsman.
It was also learned that Taruc has pending cases of estafa at the Lucena City RTC Branch 56 and Pasay City Branch 108 and violation of Batas Pambansa (BP) 22 at the Pasay City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 46. - GMANews.TV
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