COMMENDATIONS are in order for the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) headed by Major General Romeo Caramat Jr. for a job well done in fighting criminality and terror in 2023, PNP chief General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. said.

Under Caramat, the PNP-CIDG further intensified its intelligence-driven operations to account for most wanted leaders of terror groups and criminal gangs in the country last year.

In 2023, the PNP-CIDG conducted more than 12,000 anti-criminality operations which resulted in the arrest of nearly 14,000 individuals, seizure of more than P10.3 billion worth of different crime evidence; and recovery of more than 1,600 illegal firearms.

The Unit also accounted for nearly 9,000 wanted persons including 583 criminal gang leaders and members; 176 wanted members of the New People’s Army, the Abu Sayyaf Group and other terrorist groups; and 314 economic saboteurs.

Under its Oplan”Pagtugis”, the CIDG’s flagship project against wanted persons, the Unit in 2023 conducted more than 8,600 operations which led to the capture of nearly 9,000 targets.

Some of the most wanted persons (MWPs) captured by the PNP-CIDG last year were Eric John Casilao, a murder suspect, with a P5.4 million bounty on his head; Isnirul Kiri alias ‘Sakirin Isnain Kiram,’ a wanted suspect for multiple murder and frustrated murder case with a P5.3 million reward for his capture; and Rey Villadores, a man wanted for murder, kidnapping with homicide and kidnapping with serious illegal detention.

Villadores carries a P2.8 million bounty on his head.

Under its Oplan: Salikop or campaign against criminal gangs, the Unit last year launched operations which resulted in the arrest of 55 criminal gang leaders and more than 500 of their members.

Among the most wanted crime gang leaders accounted for by the PNP-CIDG last year were Rafael Almero III, tagged as a leader of a gun-for-hire and robbery-holdup gang operating in Western Visayas; and Rosendo Mot, described as a leader of a Bicol-based gun-for-hire and drug trafficking syndicate.

The PNP-CIDG’s Oplan: Paglalansag Omega or campaign against private armed groups and loose firearms last year led to the arrest of more than 1,200 suspects, the seizure of nearly 2,000 illegal guns, over 37,000 live ammunition and nearly 500 explosives.

Also in 2023, the Unit conducted 220 operations which resulted in the arrest of 314 economic saboteurs and the confiscation of P10.2 billion worth of evidence under the CIDG’s Oplan: Megashopper or its campaign against smuggling, manufacturing, distribution and trading of counterfeit items and other products.

Caramat ordered the launching of One-Time, Big-Time anti-criminality operations against organized crime syndicates, wanted persons and illegal guns and other weapons last year.

As a result, significant accomplishments were made by his men led by those from the CIDG National Capital Region Field Unit headed by Colonel Hansel Marantan; the CIDG Region 4-A under Col. Jacinto Malinao; and the CIDG Region 3 headed by Lieutenant Col. Sancho Mercado.

Marantan’s men have accounted for dozens of loose firearms and explosives as a result of separate raids on illegal gun stores and firing ranges in Marikina City and Cavite and Rizal provinces last year.

Two weeks ago, the CIDG-NCRFU also smashed a Cavite-based gun trafficking ring following a raid in Kawit which led to the confiscation of 20 illegal guns and the discovery of an illegal firing range.

The CIDG Region 4-A also made a string of accomplishments topped by the arrest of several suspects in the infamous ‘Missing Sabungero’ case in Manila while the CIDG Region 3 recently solved the killing of the barangay chairperson and her husband in Ramos, Tarlac.

The PNP-CIDG said that at present, it has a 99.03 percent crime clearance efficiency and an 84.48 percent crime solution efficiency after solving 2,608 of the 3,087 cases it handled last year.