Victorias City Mayor Severo Palanca was also victimized by a former Bacolod barangay captain who is now locked up in jail for her alleged attempt to extort money from Silay Mayor Jose Montelibano, too, police said.

Supt. Jerry Bartolome, Silay police chief, yesterday said Sheryl Ferrer, former Brgy. 14 captain in Bacolod City, was identified by an employee of the Victorias City Hall as the one who also victimized  Palanca, with her modus operandi.

Retired Senior Supt. Modesto Sanson, former Victorias police chief, said the suspect, who claimed to have been working at the Office of the Ombudsman, managed to get P10,000 from Palanca last week.

Ferrer, 42, is now facing charges for estafa and swindling before the City Prosecutor’s Office, with Montelibano as the complainant, Bartolome said.

Initial investigations of the Silay police showed that Ferrer called up Montelibano, introduced herself as Deputy Ombudsman Virginia-Palanca Santiago, and asked for P5,000 allegedly to help her niece, Erlinda Santiago, who was stranded at the Bacolod-Silay airport, because of missing luggage.

Sanson who is now working as an executive assistant of Palanca, said a similar modus operandi was also employed by the suspect, in getting money from the Victorias mayor.

Ferrer was arrested by the Silay police in an entrapment operation, and in the act of accepting P5,000 in marked money from Montelilbano at his office Monday.*GPB

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