A Police Captain assigned as Deputy Chief of Police of Balayan Municipal Police Station (MPS) was arrested by the elements of IMEG together with other PNP Units under Intel Packet “Marilag” after he demanded and extorted money as weekly payola of Php2,000 from a resident whom he accused of illegally operating “loteng”, an illegal number game.

PBGEN WARREN F DE LEON, Acting Director IMEG, identified the suspect as PCPT RUBEN MARILAG, currently assigned as the Deputy Chief of Police of Balayan, MPS. Said PCO was arrested in an entrapment operation conducted on September 22, 2022, at about 4:47 PM in front of Robinson Bank near their station by the joint elements of Team 4A, IMEG Luzon Field Unit, 35th Special Action Company, PNP SAF, Balayan Municipal Police Station, and Provincial Intelligence Unit, Batangas Police Provincial Office.

The operation stemmed from a complaint lodged against him for coercing and intimidating the complainant/victim into paying a weekly payola for the victim’s “loteng” operation. Accordingly, the said “loteng” operation had already been stopped since March of 2021 when the victim was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. Despite this, the suspect insists that the victim must pay for his weekly payola amounting to P2,000.00

Recovered pieces of evidence were the marked money, the suspect’s service firearm with a magazine containing 14 live ammunition, an inside holster, smartphones, a cap with artificial hair and a wallet containing cash, and the suspect’s PNP ID. The arrested suspect is now under the custody of IMEG Headquarters at Camp BGen Rafael T Crame, Quezon City for investigation and proper disposition.

PCPT MARILAG is already the fifth active PNP personnel and the second police official arrested by PNP IMEG in an entrapment operation since PBGEN DE LEON was designated as the Acting Director of IMEG on August 8, 2022.

“We are simply following the directive of our CPNP, PGEN RODOLFO S AZURIN JR, to go after erring PNP personnel who continue to ruin the image of the PNP organization despite repeated warnings and reminders. We are determined to remove misfits as they don’t have a place in the organization. With this commitment, we hope that with the help of the community and the Church under the program KASIMBAYANAN, we can accomplish our mandate of cleansing the PNP of scalawags. Kaya tulong-tulong po tayo.” PBGEN DE LEON said. ###