Eight of the 47 victims of illegal recruitment filed charges of large scale estafa against La Castellana Councilor Donato Dumaguit, and a woman recruiter, who promised their entry to the Philippine National Police, in exchange for cash, before the Negros Occidental Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Wednesday, Sept. 20.
Aside from Dumaguit, provincial police spokesperson, P/Capt. Judesses Catalogo, said that Mary June delos Santos is the other respondent named in the complaints.
Catalogo said that the La Castellana police is assisting other complainants in the documentation of their sworn affidavits in the filing of similar cases against Dumaguit and delos Santos.
As to the alleged involvement of two policemen in the police recruitment scam, he said that only the names of the two respondents have been mentioned in the affidavits of the complainants.
A formal complaint was filed before the National Bureau of Investigation Sept. 19 by a 24-year-old teacher, who claimed to have paid P121,000 to delos Santos in exchange for her entry to the Philippine Coast Guard.
La Castellana Mayor Rhummyla Mangilimutan said that based on the testimonies of the complainants, the suspects also engaged in the recruitment for Coast Guard, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and Bureau of Fire Protection, if the recruits failed to join the PNP.
Police aspirants paid the recruiters amounts ranging from P247,000, to as much as P300,000, for their entry to the PNP.
Mangilimutan said she was assured by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of help for the victims.
As to the status of Dumaguit, who is her party mate, Mangilimutan said the councilor had been absent in the past two regular sessions of the La Castellana Sangguniang Bayan.
“If he is not guilty, he should face the allegations against him,” Mangilimutan said, as she brushed aside the claims of Dumaguit that he is being politically prosecuted./GB
