Bacolod CIDG chief nabbed for extortion
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2020 10:00:51 +0000
By MARTIN SADONGDONG * GLAZYL MASCULINO
The chief of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Bacolod City and his alleged cohort were arrested by the anti-scalawag unit of the PNP last Thursday for allegedly extorting protection money from three KTV bar owners.
Police Col. Ronald Oliver Lee, acting director of the Integrated Monitoring and Enforcement Group of the PNP, identified the suspects as Police Major Melvin Madrona, Bacolod-CIDG chief, and Jay-R dela Cruz, 40, a cockfighting handler.
Madrona and Dela Cruz were apprehended by the IMEG Visayas Field Unit in an entrapment operation after they allegedly accepted P5,000 in marked money from one of the complainants inside a cockpit arena in Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod at around 5:35 p.m.
The operation stemmed from the complaint of Rosalie Pesquera, Ashly Alba, and Rizaldy Claver, owners of the Ztrip Zone KTV Bar in Barangay Singcang, Bacolod.
According to Lee, the CIDG-Bacolod led by Madrona raided the Ztrip Zone KTV Bar last Feb. 8 and arrested Pesquera, 10 female dancers, and 12 customers.
Pesquera said they were taken by the team to the CIDG field office in Bacolod. The victims were eventually released the following day on the condition that Pesquera will give Madrona P5,000 every Thursday as protection money.
“By giving P5,000 every Thursday, their KTV bar will not be raided,” Lee said of Madrona’s promise to the bar owners.
The complainants told police that they started giving P5,000 as protection money last Feb. 20.
A certain Police Senior Master Sgt. Nabarte of the CIDG Region 6 allegedly accepted the money on Madrona’s behalf.
The IMEG is checking the identity of Nabarte.
Madrona was also accused by the complainants of shouldering his accommodation, travel, and food expenses during one of his visits in a hotel in Bacolod. Pesquera and Claver said they personally gave P6,000 to Madrona in his office for his hotel expenses.
Sick of Madrona’s modus, the complainants decided to seek help from the IMEG which eventually led to the entrapment operation and arrest of the cop and his cohort.
Madrona resisted arrest and was injured. He denied the allegations against him and said the KTV was engaged in indecent activities, hence, the raid.
He was initially taken to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office headquarters in Bacolod for custody while awaiting the decision of the higher office for his transport.
His records were checked and it was found out that he had a previous case of physical injury, arbitrary detention, and grave coercion on March 22, 2017.
Madrona allegedly mauled an overseas Filipino worker during a vehicular accident while still assigned at the Quezon City Police District Station 5.
He was transferred to the Headquarters Support Service and underwent the Focused Reformation, Reorientation, and Moral Enhancement program for erring police officers for one month.
Madrona was assigned to CIDG-Bacolod last January.
A source said that Madrona was reported to be engaged in cockfighting as vice, an
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