Eight Individuals Pretending to Be Officials of DBM Apprehended by Authorities

Mandaluyong City- Eight individuals pretending to be officials or connected to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) were apprehended by operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in an entrapment operation conducted in Mandaluyong City recently.

According to the initial report released by the NBI, one of the suspects initially introduced herself as an Undersecretary of the DBM to the complainant, claiming that she could assist in releasing funds for government projects. According to the NBI, the same suspect said that she is in charge of DBM’s special projects.

Based on the details of the complaint, the suspects promised the complainant, who is a project contractor, access to P1.3 billion worth of government projects if they agreed to a deal. Allegedly, this project was related to the construction of a dam, which the DBM was supposedly funding. The suspects assured the complainant that the project would be awarded to her, but before that, they needed the complainant to provide “grease money” for the project’s “Blue Print” to initiate the processing of documents for the project award. Fortunately, the contractor conducted an initial verification with the DBM, where she discovered that there was no official with that name in the agency, and that the mentioned project did not exist in the agency’s records.

As a result, the DBM promptly collaborated with the NBI to carry out an entrapment operation where the suspects were swiftly apprehended at a restaurant in Mandaluyong City after accepting marked money amounting to P500,000.00 from the NBI.

“Mariin po nating kinokondena ang ganitong klaseng gawain. May proseso po tayong sinusunod na naaayon sa mga umiiral na batas,” according to DBM Sec. Mina F. Pangandaman.

“We hope that with this successful entrapment, we are able to send a strong statement to the public that the DBM will never tolerate fraudulent activities like this. Seryoso po ang DBM sa paglaban sa katiwalian gaya po ng ganitong mga gawain. Kaya naman po hinihikayat ko po ang taumbayan na agad magsumbong at i-report kung may mga mae-encounter sila na ganitong mga indibidwal,” Sec. Mina added.

According to the latest NBI report, two of the suspects expressed their desire to be witnesses against the other suspects.