QC Hall extort try probed
The extortion attempt involved a relative of the head of the City Planning Office
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte wants a thorough probe into the entrapment operation that led to the arrest of a relative of a local government official caught in the act of receiving a bribe within the premises of city hall.
“Even if the alleged extortionist is not an employee but only a kin of a city hall employee, I ordered an investigation into it, since it happened in city hall. In Quezon City, there is no room for corruption,” Belmonte said.
The brother-in-law of Arch. Pedro Rodriguez Jr., head of the City Planning Office, was arrested in an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The brother-in-law, Enrico Morillo, was allegedly caught in the act of receiving P175,000 in bribe money from an establishment, as amicable settlement in exchange for the dropping of a complaint regarding the presence of a cockroach in its food.
It was reported that the establishment requested a meeting at the City Planning Office where the entrapment operation was conducted.
“It has come to my attention that the Office of the City Planning has been recently involved in an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation that led to the arrest of a kin of Mr. Rodriguez,” the mayor said.
She vowed to fully cooperate with the NBI probe even as she expressed regret that the incident happened within city hall premises.
At the same time, she called on food establishments in Quezon City to be vigilant against syndicates preying on restaurants and food shops for huge sums of money.