MANILA, Philippines – Another controversy strikes the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) as an alumnus was nabbed for allegedly committing fraud against no less than a fellow policeman and academy mate.

Former Police Inspector Jay-are Olaguera was arrested by Quezon City Police District (QCPD) cops on Tuesday, March 27, after he allegedly tried to scam Camp Crame-assigned Superintendent Roland Bulalacao.

Olaguera belongs to the PNPA Sansinirangan Class of 2007 and only had a short career as a policeman. He was assigned to Mindanao after graduating then went AWOL indefinitely. He was dropped by the PNP in 2008.

Recently, Olaguera pretended to be an alumnus from an older batch and asked help from Bulalacao.

The timeline: On March 25, Olaguera sent a text message to Bulalacao introducing himself as “Senior Superintendent Benito Ramos.”

The next day, Olaguera asked Bulalacao to send P3,000 through Smart Money Padala to aid a certain penniless Police Chief Inspector Ortega, supposedly assigned in Compostela Valley.

A skeptical Bulalacao reported what he believed to be a fraud attempt, seeking help from the QCPD’s District Special Operations Unit (DSOU).

Through the money deposit reference code sent by Olaguera, the QCPD-DSOU traced the shop where the money was set to be claimed: a Smart Money Padala branch in Marikina City.

On March 27, Bulalacao sent P3,000 with the reference number while Quezon City cops went to the Marikina store.The cops found Olaguera’s 8-year-old daughter claiming the money.

They were able to arrest Olaguera himself by following his daughter home.

Cops were able to recover the P3,000 sent by Bulalacao, then confiscated the cellphone used in the attempted swindling.

What happens next: Olaguera is set to be disowned by his PNPA batch mates, their class president Police Chief Inspector Jefferson Ison announced on Wednesday.

“Our class denounce[s] his acts and a resolution will be endorsed for his dismembership in our class,” Ison said in a statement sent to reporters.

“We have chosen to take this difficult and hard choice of letting him suffer and pay for the crimes that [he has] committed and for [him] to be accountable not only to us but to the law we all vowed to respect and enforce.”

Olaguera’s arrest comes during a time of controversy at the PNPA after unsanctioned beating incidents in the academy were reported by the media. 

Police will file swindling and child exploitation charges against Olaguera and his wife, Sait Escarcita Olaguera. Police found that Sait had earlier been arrested for a similar scam in 2017, posing as a police captain from Taguig City. – Rappler.com