VACC calls on Congress to probe ‘Subic Syndicate’

THE Volunteer Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) is calling on Congress and the Senate to probe the existence of a so-called ‘Subic Syndicate’ targeting Subic Free Port locators for extortion in the millions of pesos using fake complainants.

VACC chairman Atty. Manuel Obedoza issued the challenge after assisting ‘Jopay,’ the alleged rape victim, and her family, in filing their statement of denial against a long-time Taiwanese locator before the Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Prosecutor’s Office last August 14.

“Apparently, matindi…mabigat itong kaso ito, malalim,” Obedoza told the media, adding: “Parang sindikato na nga ito eh.”

He said the syndicate claimed two victims in the process– Jopay whose rights as a child and member of the indigenous Aeta tribe were violated, and the businessman who is being sued over a fake complaint.

Obedoza also expressed concern and indignation over the illegal detention and physical torture Jopay suffered in the hands of two of the suspects, couple Juana Marquez and Norman Maneja.

Jopay stated the couple managed to lure her away from her family with a promise of big money and a job somewhere. She said she went with the couple as Marquez is close to her family.

Jopay told the media that she was held against her will since she was taken last January, forced to do menial jobs, and beaten when she was unable to memorize the fake complaints against the businessman that was written in English.

Jopay finally escaped from her abductors last June 30, after the wife of one of the conspirators, Rudy Salangsang, a failed lawyer, took pity on her and put her on a bus bound for Olongapo.

After finally gaining courage, Jopay went home to her family in Morong, Bataan last August 9, on the advice of her boyfriend and his family.

The complaint was originally filed at the Olongapo City Prosecutor’s Office last February 13. However, after lodging a protest at the Department of Justice (DOJ) by the locator’s counsel, Atty. Merlito Lovensky Fernandez, and the family’s lawyer, Atty. Baltazar Beltran, over the alleged bias of the Olongapo Prosecutor’s Office, investigation of the complaint was transferred to the Cabanatuan City Prosecutor’s Office under Provincial Prosecutor Julius Caesar Mustard (Pinoy Exposé, August 6, 2025).

In their affidavit of denial last August 13, Jopay, 17, and her mother, Lacsina Ann Sinlao, denied even stepping inside the Olongapo OCP last February 13 to file the rape complaint against the businessman. They added their signatures were forged.

Earlier, on March 20, Sinlao, accompanied by Beltran, Fernandez, and her relatives, already went to the Olongapo City OCP to deny she and Jopay were the complainants against the businessman, but this was brushed aside by Deputy Prosecutor Ria Niña Sususco.

Sususco also refused to present Associate Prosecutor Lilia Hinanay-Escuso who purportedly examined and affirmed the identities of Jopay and Sinlao.

This uncharacteristic behavior of Sususco and Escuso prompted Beltran and Fernandez to ask the DOJ for the inhibition of the Olongapo OCP and the transfer of the venue elsewhere (Pinoy Exposé, April 24, 2025). Beltran also asked the DOJ if entertaining bogus complainants conforms to the rules of the department (Pinoy Exposé, April 1, 2024).

Obedoza said the VACC is willing to provide Jopay and her family legal assistance and in seeking justice from those who abused her that Jopay also aired before the media.

He noted the incident involving Jopay and the businessman appears not to be an isolated case, which was seconded by Fernandez.

Both narrated a previous incident a few years ago involving another Free Port locator who was blackmailed by the group of some P20 million to quietly settle the case.

They added appropriate criminal charges are being readied against the members of the syndicate that they would name individually as soon as the cases are filed in court.

Meanwhile, the preliminary hearing of the complaint has been reset to August 28.