A radio blocktimer was arrested in an entrapment operation in Talisay City, Cebu for extorting allegedly the mayor of the said city worth P4 million.

Roger Languieto Cimafranca, 44 years old, a radio commentator of DYRB Online Radio (on blocktime), and a resident of Barangay Biasong, Talisay City was arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Cebu Field Unit (lead unit) together with personnel of Talisay City Police Station-Cebu Police Provincial Office inside a mall in Barangay Lawaan 2, Talisay City at 2:30 p.m. on November 28, 2024.

Another person, identified as Joselito Bonggo Dullano, was also nabbed by the authorities.

Dullano, 37 years old, assistant radio commentator of DYRB Online Radio (also on blocktime), is a resident of V. Rama Quijano Compound, Cebu City.

Pieces of evidence confiscated from the suspects include ten (10) genuine One Thousand Peso bills used as entrapment money; 199 One Thousand Peso bills used as boodle money; eight (8) Five Hundred Peso bills boodle money, and two (2) valid identification (ID) cards of the two suspects. 

The entrapment operation was carried out based on a complaint filed by Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas, Jr.

The mayor requested police assistance after Cimafranca compelled allegedly the complainant to pay P4 million in exchange for Cimafranca’s withdrawal from the mayoral race in Talisay City. 

Mayor Gullas, Jr. said, in a video posted on his official social media account hours after the entrapment, that the amount started at P500,000 but was raised to P1.5 million, then to P2 million, and on to P4 million. 

“Ato na lang gyud ni siyang gihimuan og complaint because di nato binuangan ang tingog sa katawhan. Wala gyud koy problema nga naa koy kaatbang, nalipay gani ko nga naa koy kaatbang. Pero kon binuangan na nato ang katungod sa tawo, ang demokrasya, ug ang electoral process nga modagan ka para lang mangayo kag kwarta, dili na pud na maayo, That’s why ni-file kog complaint sa CIDG,” the mayor said in his video post. 

Cimafranca has denied the accusation vehemently, describing the entrapment as “politically motivated."

"Kon modawat kog kwarta, sama ra og gipakauwawan nako ang akong pamilya," Cimafranca said. 

Blocktiming is a broadcast media practice in the Philippines of buying “blocks” of air time to produce programs that are “independent of networks and stations.”

The operatives emphasized that the suspects were "apprised  of their constitutional rights and taken to the office of CIDG Cebu Field Unit-Cebu City Police Office (CIDG CFU CCPO) for the standard booking procedures and temporary detention."

Further, CIDG said that the arrest was recorded using an issued body-worn camera based on the “Rules on the Use of Body-Worn Cameras in the Execution of Warrants.”

(With reports from Decemay Padilla/DYSS Super Radyo GMA)