MANILA, Philippines – Metro Manila cops have arrested a 29-year-old woman who allegedly tricked a former policeman into paying a total of P80,000 for the false promise of reinstatement in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

In a press statement on Thursday, December 6, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) identified the suspect as Dianne Mae Navarez who was nabbed in an entrapment operation in  Parañaque City on Wednesday, December 5.

Navarez faces robbery-extortion, and swindling-estafa complaints, and has been detained at the NCRPO headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, 

According to authorities, Navarez tricked former policeman Emmanuel Bugayon Carlos into paying her thousands of pesos after she claimed she could facilitate his reinstatement. She claimed she had connections in the PNP leadership, particularly the PNP’s top 4 official,  Deputy Director General Camilo Cascolan, chief of the Directorial Staff.

Carlos said the suspect was introduced to him by his wife’s cousin in 2017, and that they became Facebook friends.

Carlos said Navarez posted photos of herself with Cascolan in her Facebook page, and told him that she could help facilitate his reinstatement since she and Cascolan allegedly belonged to the Beta Sigma Fraternity. She started asking money from him in April 2018.

Navarez promised the cop’s reinstatement through text messages, and even brought him  to the office of Cascolan in July 2018, when Cascolan was the chief of the PNP’s Civil Security Group.

Carlos said they took pictures with Cascolan in Camp Crame but the subject of his reinstatement was never discussed.

Navarez still continued to ask for money from Carlos but on October 23, the cop and his wife went straight to Cascolan to ask him when he could be reinstated. Cascolan was clueless about Navarez’s promises to Carlos.

Cascolan denied that he knew Navarez through an alleged fraternity.  In a phone call on Thursday, Cascolan told Rappler that he is a member of the Beta Sigma fraternity, but Navarez is not a member of the counterpart sorority. 

On December 4, Carlos said Navarez asked for another P5,000 for a supposed Christmas party of Cascolan. The cop refused for the first time but was threatened with never returning to the police service again.

He agreed to pay her, but told cops about it, leading to the entrapment on December 5.  – Rappler.com