AN IMPOSTOR New People’s Army hit squad member out to extort money from the provincial engineer of Pangasinan was caught by police operatives in an entrapment operation in Calasiao town

The suspect, Noel Santos, 39, of San Fernando City, Pampanga, was arrested in the afternoon of May 15 inside the compound of the Catholic Church in Calasiao while about to receive P180,000 from provincial Engineer Divinia de Leon.

Police said it was already the second time Santos was to receive money from de Leon. The first was last May 8 when the latter, out of fear, gave in to the demand and gave the impostor P45,000, as alleged protection money and as financial support for their organizations.

Elements of the Provincial Intelligence Branch of the Pangasinan Provincial Office led by Superintendent Rolando Magno pounced on the suspect during the pay off.

The police operation appears to have been quite timely as Santos’ next would-be victims, based on a list of contact numbers captured from him by the arresting officers would have been the mayor and city treasurer of Dagupan City, the Public Works, Dagupan City Water District, and Provincial Treasurer Ramon Crisostomo, among others.

A check with the records of other law enforcement agencies showed that Santos is not an active or regular member of the ABB nor any leftist organization but was involved in a series of robbery extortion activities in Manila and Pangasinan.

The police said Santos, who posed as a certain “Ka Sergio” purportedly the spokesman of the ABB/NPA and Communist Party of the Philippines in Region 1, uses the telephone directory in contacting would-be victims through their landlines.

Once he had contacted the victims, he tells them that they are only asking money as support for their organization but had not disturbed or threatened them.

If his request is granted, Santos designates the place where the cash will be left by the victim, to be picked up by a certain Ka Jun who is Santos himself.

Santos’ list of victims so far, according to investigators, have included a nun in San Fernando, Pampanga from who he extorted P3,000 in 1990; an Engineer Rafael Ponio of the 1st Engineering District in San Fernando, Pampanga from whom the suspect extorted P153,000 in 1991; the manager of the W Vegas Shellane Station in San Fernando, Pampanga from whom he extorted P7,000 in 1991 and a certain Mrs. Pablo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Manila from whom Santos extorted P6,500 grocery items in 2005. PNA)