THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 filed charges against the two men accused of selling falsified Covid-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results in Cebu City ports on Friday, March 19, 2021.
The accused were identified as Rogelio Nebres and Rakim Busara. They were arrested on Thursday, March 18.
According to Rennan Augustus Oliva, NBI 7 director, the charges filed before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office include estafa through falsification in relation to Articles 171, 172 and 8 of the Revised Penal Code.
He said the charges are also in relation to cybercrime as Nebres and Busara used computer technology in the commission of the crime.
“Do not patronize kay kung kamo, makalusot mo inig larga, unya inig abot sa port of entry madakpan mo, makasuhan man mo og use of falsified documents. Ikaw may holder, ikaw ang presumed author ana,” Oliva told the public.
(Do not buy fake Covid test results. You may get away with it and be able to depart, but if you get caught at your port of entry you can be charged for using falsified documents. Since you are in possession of it, it is presumed that you are also the author.)
The NBI 7 conducted an entrapment on Thursday in the vicinity of Pier 1, after it received information from San Miguel, Bohol Mayor and former NBI Director Virgilio Mendez about the widespread selling of fake RT-PCR test results in Cebu ports.
The operation resulted in the arrest of Nebres in Pier 1 and Busara in his shop along Colon St. They allegedly produced documents with a negative RT-PCR test result, using the standard laboratory result from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center subnational molecular laboratory.
The NBI 7 said some of these fake RT-PCR test results are being offered to passengers bound for Bohol, particularly for Tagbilaran and Tubigon, at Piers 1 and 3 for P1,500 each. (WBS)