PSG man linked to ATM scam freed on P20,000 bail
THE PRESIDENTIAL Security Group (PSG) officer who was sacked by his unit after he was caught with several ATM automated teller machine cards and a scanning device has been freed on bail.
Lt. Senior Grade Raphael Malacay Marcial, a Navy officer and member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class of 2008, was released after he posted bail of P20,000 in the Makati Regional Trial Court before 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Earlier, the officer was charged with violating Republic Act 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 in the Makati Prosecutor’s Office. The case, however, has yet to be raffled off.
Marcial was arrested by a police team on Feb. 21 as he was attempting to withdraw money from an ATM of EastWest Bank on Chino Roces Avenue Extension in Makati.
When frisked by security guards and policemen, he yielded nine ATM cards under different names, several blank cards and a scanning device believed to be used to extract data from other ATMcards.
Makati police chief Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban said that they have yet to determine how much money Marcial had managed to get from other people’s accounts using cloned ATMcards.
“We are coordinating with different banks about this. They are likewise taking measures to prevent this kind of modus operandi,” he added as he noted that since 2012, the majority of banks have been aware of the illegal activity. THE COMEDIAN and TV host known as Vice Ganda onWednesday filed an affidavit in the Pasig City prosecutor’s office seeking to disprove the rape charge filed last week by a 24-year-old woman against his friend and “It’s Showtime” cohost, Vhong Navarro.
The ABS-CBN star, Jose Marie Borja Viceral in real life, detailed Navarro’s whereabouts on the night that complainant Roxanne Acosta Cabanero claimed she was raped at Astoria Plaza Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City.
In the affidavit, Viceral said Navarro was a guest performer at his concert at Island CoveResort in Cavite province when the alleged rape took place on April 24, 2010.
Viceral later posted a message on Twitter: “In the name of truth.”
In an interview with court reporters, Cabanero’s legal counsel Virgilio Batalla dismissed Viceral affidavit as “irrelevant” to the case against Navarro, noting that his client never mentioned the date of the alleged abuse in her complaint.
“It will not affect our case,” Batalla said. “That’s just their interpretation. (Navarro’s camp) is just using this for publicity. They’re trying to show that Vhong is innocent.”
Cabanero is a former contestant of SlimmersWorldMiss Bikini Philippines in 2009 and Miss Resorts World 2010. She joined the Bb. Pilipinas pageant in 2011 but was disqualified by organizers after her alleged photos showing her in nude surfaced online.
Her rape complaint cameweeks after another woman, 22-year-old commercial modelDeniece Cornejo, filed a similar charge against Navarro, citing an incident at her condo on Jan. 22. Navarro, on the other hand, sued Cornejo and seven others, including businessman Cedric Lee, for allegedly setting him up for mauling and extortion.