A RANKING policeman is facing criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for alleged extortion.
In a 10-page complaint, Danilo Ong, a fishing boat operator in Navotas City, through lawyers Rene Saguisag and Archimedes Marquez, filed charges against Sr. Supt. Randy Peralta of the Philippine National Police’s Regional Maritime Unit in Region 4, along with SPO2s Lauro Aala and Agapito Esguerra, and (ret.) PO3 Danilo de Belen.
Peralta was accused of grave coercion, grave threats, attempted extortion, grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, and violation of Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Public Officials and Employees, and conduct grossly prejudicial to the interest of public service.
Fish traders have been forced to comply with the extortion demands, otherwise they would face apprehension for violation of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ Fisheries Administrative Order 246, or the nationwide ban on the use of “hulbot-hulbot,” Ong said.
At a media briefing in Quezon City, Ong said his charges would stand in court, citing he is in possession of deposit slips and remittance’s receipts of money transfer as protection money for Aala over the past 10 years or so, and several text messages from the police officers.
Last January, Peralta sent De Belen as his emissary to demand P20,000 per boat each month, or a total of P460,000 a month, from Ong to allow 23 of his fishing boat units to go out of bay within Calabarzon and fish “freely” using the “hulbot-hulbot,” or the fishing device Danish Seine, Ong claimed.
He said he met with Peralta and Aala on separate occasions to bargain, to no avail.
Each fishing boat costs P5 million, plus another P1 million in equipment and other tools, Ong said.
Last May 25, Peralta’s operatives apprehended Ong’s f/b Dan Israel N and its boat captain, Gregorio Burtanag, along with the other fishermen, off La Monja Island in Mariveles, Bataan, and fired shots at the boat that caused the boat to sink “50 fathoms” deep or 300 feet down the sea level.
Those apprehended were detained in Batangas, and not in Bataan.
“Why arrest those fishermen in Bataan, which was not in Peralta’s jurisdiction?” Ong asked.
According to Ong’s lawyer, Archimedes Marquez, the maritime police officers have been abusing FAO 246 restricting “hulbot-hulbot” fishing to be able to extort from the fishermen of Navotas.
“We have questioned the order in court,” Marquez said.
Ong said he fears for his life, calling on incoming President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to stop alleged corruption involving the Regional Maritime Unit in Region 4 and protect the interest of the fishing industry.