A Quezon City businessman filed charges of qualified theft and estafa (fraud) against comedian turned Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista and his brother, Hero, for allegedly stealing a printing machine worth P1.2 million.

According to Carlos de Leon, owner of CHAM Advertising in Project 8, Quezon City, the theft occurred on Aug. 16, 2009.

De Leon, who said he was a childhood friend of the Bautistas, accused Hero—along with six other men identified only as Jeff, Pacquiao, Papa Bear, Botchok, Mark, and Bobby—of taking an FY 8180 lll Plus Infiniti Printer from his company.

De Leon said Bautista did not cite a reason for confiscating the machine, simply saying that he did it upon the orders of the vice-mayor.

He had asked the Bautistas to return the machine to no avail.

Two days after the incident, De Leon said he learned that some other office equipment, including two desktop computers, three desktop printers, three rolls of tarpaulin, five gallon of ink worth P20,000, and five gallons of solvent worth P4,000, were also missing.

De Leon's lawyer, Oliver Yuan, said his client is contemplating the filing of administrative charges against the vice mayor before the Ombudsman.

De Leon denied that the filing of the case is linked to the upcoming May elections.

Bautista is running for mayor of Quezon City.