The arrest of five people posing as Palace officials in a P10-million extortion try on a party list group should be an eye-opener and warning for name-droppers, Malacañang said on Friday.
Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar also appealed to the public to be wary of such offers coming from people claiming to be from the Office of the President.
"Paalala natin sa kababayan natin kung may nagsasabing taga-Malacañang, humingi ng pangalan o business card o any form of identification. Kung may duda, ipaalam ito sa security personnel natin. At third, as in anything else, himayin natin... maging maingat, use your common sense (We remind everyone to be wary of people claiming to be from Malacañang and making such offers. Use common sense and ask for identification. When in doubt, contact our security forces. Be inquisitive and use common sense)," Olivar said in an interview on dwIZ radio.
Olivar also urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look deeper into the group’s contacts.
He said the Palace is keeping tabs on the investigation to see if there are indeed Palace insiders in cahoots with the suspects.
"Ngayon lang nagsimula ang investigation. Hopefully sa pagimbestiga malaman naatin ang ibang detalye rito (The investigation has just started. We hope we can get more details about this group’s operations)," he said.
On Thursday, NBI agents arrested five people claiming to be from the Office of the President following a sting operation in Manila.
Arrested were Joel Pelo, Wenceslao Malino, Mary Anne Fujiwara, Maria Elizabeth Pabalan, and Fudenciana Malinao, who tried to extort P10 million from the Buhay party list group.
"E kasi disente ang dating nila kaya napagkamalang taga Malacañang (The five appeared well-dressed and easily passed themselves off as Palace officials)," Olivar admitted. - TJD
