Socmed personality nabbed for extort try on ex-Speaker
A founder of a social media news outlet was arrested on Tuesday night along with four associates over an alleged attempt to extort P350 million from former Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Franco Mabanta, a self-styled political strategist who founded the Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN), allegedly threatened the Leyte congressman and cousin of President Marcos with the release of a video that would supposedly link him to corruption in the House of Representatives.
The National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday presented Mabanta to the media following an entrapment operation at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City.
NBI Director Melvin Matibag said agents from the bureau’s Organized and Transnational Crime Division (OTCD) arrested Mabanta and the four others for robbery extortion, as defined in the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The four other arrested suspects were identified as PGMN finance officer Ericson James Pacaba, incorporator John Alexander Vasquez Gomez, and employees Jardine Christian Requio Serrano and Franco Jose Gallardo.
They remained in the custody of the NBI-OTCD as of press time.
The NBI said the entrapment operation was launched based on a complaint filed by Romualdez. There was no immediate comment from the congressman regarding the arrest.
Video teaser, demands
According to the NBI, Mabanta threatened Romualdez with the release of the video for the first time last year.
The threat was revived two weeks ago, with Mabanta sending a “teaser” clip to Romualdez through an intermediary and demanding P350 million in exchange for keeping it under wraps.
According to Special Agent John Mark Santiago, executive officer of the NBI-OTCD, Mabanta first demanded P350 million from Romualdez but later settled for P300 million.
As instructed by Mabanta, Santiago said, the P300 million was to be handed over in four tranches at P75 million each.
“Last year the amount was lower, but it ballooned to P350 million two weeks ago,” Santiago said. “There were still discussions, and then the final demand was—‘take it or leave it’—P300 million.”
Mabanta allegedly warned Romualdez that the first part of the video will be released on May 5 if the first tranche is not delivered before that date.
Entrapment money
Santiago said Mabanta sent a teaser of the video to Romualdez to further pressure him. This prompted the congressman to file a formal complaint with the NBI.
NBI agents posed as Romualdez’s representatives during the entrapment operation on Tuesday, carrying three pieces of luggage containing a mix of marked money and fake cash.
The undercover agents met with Mabanta at The Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati City around 5:30 p.m.
Mabanta then instructed the agents to deliver the money to a certain “Jimmy,” who was later identified as Serrano, at the Valle Verde Country Club.
It was Serrano and Gallardo who received the bags first. They then brought them to a function room inside the club, where Mabanta, Pacaba, and Gomez were waiting.
As evidence, the NBI agents secured the mobile phones used in coordinating the delivery.
‘Setup’
The NBI director said the bureau had not yet seen the video or checked if it was related to the flood control corruption scandal, for which Romualdez had been investigated by the Ombudsman along with other officials.
Allowed to speak to reporters after being presented by the NBI, Mabanta denied the allegations.
“We are innocent. It’s not true … Definitely not true,” he said.
Later on Wednesday, PGMN released a statement attributed to Mabanta, where he described his arrest as “a setup” and a way to “silence” the news site.
In the statement, he said PGMN “completed immense, comprehensive, painful research” over the last five months about Romualdez’s alleged corruption while he was still speaker.
“What we have is devastating. The episode was filmed several weeks ago. It has been fully edited—it is 90 minutes-long, packed with hard evidence, and ready for release,” he said.
“That is why this is happening. There was no extortion. There were zero threats from us. That’s all bullshit. The ‘evidence’ provided showed one side of the story. We committed no crime: and we can prove it,” he added.
Addressing Romualdez, he said: “You know what you did to the country. We know what you did to the country. Soon, hopefully, everyone will, too.”
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