Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, regional police director, said in a statement on Wednesday that the relief of Supt. Al Cabauatan was “a matter of standard procedure” while the PRO3 investigates the incident.
On Tuesday night, operatives of the Pampanga Provincial Police Office’s Public Safety Company arrested Senior Police Officer 1 Jessie Lopez in an entrapment operation in Barangay San Nicolas 1, Magalang.
The entrapment operation was triggered by the complaint of Maricar Canlapan who reported to the provincial police that Lopez and Sr. Insp. Philipp Pelle had demanded P30,000 “as settlement” for the illegal drug case filed against her husband, Roel Canlapan.
Only Lopez showed up during the entrapment operation.
Authorities recovered from Lopez the P30,000 he received from the Canlapans, his .45 caliber Norinco service firearm loaded with 11 live bullets and two mobile phones which supposedly contain the text messages he had sent and received from Mrs. Canlapan.
Corpus said he ordered the filing of robbery and extortion charges against Lopez and Pelle at the Pampanga Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
He said filing charges against the erring cops reflected the efforts of the Philippine National Police to “remove bad eggs in the police force.”
