Franco Mabanta, 4 others post bail
Social media personality and Peanut Gallery Media Network founder Franco Mabanta, along with four associates, posted bail on Saturday following allegations of extorting Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez.
According to reports, the group filed a P120,000 bail each. A release order was subsequently issued by the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 167.
The National Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the five individuals underwent inquest proceedings last Wednesday evening.
The NBI said that the case stems from a complaint filed by Romualdez against Mabanta and four others, including an anchor identified as "CJ Hirro."
Mabanta allegedly threatened Romualdez with releasing a video that supposedly portrays the former House Speaker as a "mastermind" in the corruption in the House of Representatives. The social media personality purportedly demanded P300 million from the lawmaker in exchange of withholding the supposed exposé.
Mabanta was apprehended after an entrapment operation at The Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati, during which he allegedly reiterated his demand and told agents to deliver the money at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig to a man identified as Jardine Christian Serrano.
Mabanta, Serrano, and three others, Ericson James Pacaba, John Alexander Vasquez Gomez, and Franco Jose Gallardo, were later arrested.
Mabanta has since maintained innocence and called the entrapment a "setup."
