Manila mayor fires police official over kidnap-extortion of 4 Korean tourists

MANILA, Philippines—Mayor Alfredo Lim on Wednesday ordered the relief of the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 3 commander after some of his men allegedly kidnapped and extorted money from four Korean tourists on February 14.

In a meeting with city police officials, Lim urged them to take “drastic action” against scalawags among their ranks as he announced that Superintendent James Afalla would be reassigned to the MPD headquarters.

“You see the backlash here? You commanders need to be careful of these incidents. Monitor closely the activities of your people. What happened here was brazen; they even made the ‘transaction’ at the [police] station,” the mayor said.

At least four members of the MPD Station 3’s antidrugs unit were identified by the four Koreans as among the policemen who arrested them on trumped-up drug charges on February 14.

The tourists were released only after they gave more than P1 million to their captors.

Lim ordered a hunt for the policemen involved in the kidnap-extortion case even as he announced the dissolution of all station-level antidrug units.

From now on, the mayor said, all antidrug operations would be handled by a centralized unit at MPD headquarters.

Following Afalla’s relief as commander of the MPD Station 3 in Sta. Cruz, a minor revamp of city police chiefs took effect Wednesday.

Supt. Ricardo Layug was assigned to head the MPD Station 3 while Supt. Jemar Modequillo replaced Layug as head of Station 5 in Ermita.

Supt. Ernesto V. Tendero Jr. took over Station 2 in Moriones, Tondo, as Supt. Marvyn Wynn Marcos assumed the post of Station 9 commander in Malate.

On the other hand, Supt. Luis Francisco, formerly assigned at the logistics division, took over Marcos’ post as Station 10 chief in San Andres Bukid.