Socmed personality, 4 others nabbed for extortion try on Romualdez

Social media personality Franco Mabanta and four alleged cohorts were nabbed in an entrapment operation conducted by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents Tuesday night.

- By AARON RECUENCO and JEFFREY DAMICOG

Their arrest was confirmed by NBI Director Melvin Matibag, and the entrapment operation was staged based on an extortion complaint filed by former House speaker Martin Romualdez.

“They may say that we are interfering with freedom of expression. We don’t investigate opinions, the mandate of the NBI is to run after criminal activities,” said Matibag.

“The use of social media to make financial gain illegally by extortion, we go after that,” he stressed.

Matibag said it all started when the camp of Mabanta allegedly demanded P300 million from Romualdez in exchange for not airing a supposed documentary that would pin down the former House leader in the flood control controversy.