From Manila’s Finest to ‘most wanted’: Ex-cop charged for robbing Taiwanese tourists

A FORMER Manila policeman—tagged as the city’s most wanted man and the third most wanted criminal in Metro Manila before his arrest last year—has been charged in court for robbing Taiwanese tourists of P65,000 in Ermita, Manila. Reggie Dominguez, who held the rank of police officer 1 before his dismissal from the service in November 2011 for being absent without official leave, was charged with robbery based on the complaint of spouses Mou Wen and Hsu Chia-Lin. His accomplices PO1 Vincent Paul Medina of the Gagalangin police community precinct and Dominguez’s cousin, Bam-Bam Valbuena, were also charged. Dominguez was arrested by fellow policemen on July 7, 2014, for his involvement in several cases of robbery-extortion involving foreign tourists, including a Japanese, an American and a Lebanese. Valbuena, on the other hand, was arrested for illegal possession of firearms while Medina has not reported for work since June 2014, the Manila Police District’s General Assignment and Investigation Section said in a report. In the case filed recently in the Manila Regional Trial Court, the Taiwanese couple said they were walking on UN Avenue corner Ma. Orosa Street on June 28, 2014, around noon when the accused accosted them and asked for their passports. They were made to get into the accused’s gray car where they were handcuffed and divested of their valuables. The couple said they were driven around the city before they were released on Roxas Boulevard. They later identified the suspects through police file photos.