For kidnapping, robbery-holdup raps

PHILIPPINE National Police Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (PNP-IMEG) director Brigadier General Warren F. De Leon on Saturday announced the arrest of a former member of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) “dismissed” from the service for his purported involvement in robbery-extortion and kidnapping-for-ransom activities.

In a report to PNP chief, General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., the official said the accused, an ex-Police Staff Sergeant, was the subject of a warrant of arrest for robbery issued by Judge Myra B. Quiambao of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 203.

“We have accounted another rogue PNP personnel in line with our intensified effort to arrest and account for police officers and men facing criminal charges in court as ordered by Gen. Acorda,” the PNP-IMEG director said.

According to De Leon, members of the PNP-IMEG Counter-Intelligence Division tracked down the accused in his house in Calamba City in Laguna past 7 p.m. Friday (May 5).

The suspect was immediately whisked to the PNP-IMEG headquarters in Camp Crame after being apprised of his constitutional rights. He is now undergoing further questioning.

De Leon said that the accused was one of the policemen subjected to a thorough investigation in 2020 on orders of the then-NCRPO chief, later PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas.

He said that Sinas then ordered the arrest of all police personnel involved in a robbery incident in a POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) establishment in Alabang, Muntinlupa City on August 11, 2020.

De Leon said their investigation showed that at least seven armed men forced their way into the Alabang compound past noon, disarmed a lone security guard, and identified themselves as agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

The suspects held at gunpoint 16 Chinese nationals identified as Feng Lei, Dong Bao Long, Li Bing, Yu Hang, Zhai Wei, Xheng Ping, Yi Tongtong, Buyi Hao, Xin Ping, Lu Yonglong, Yang Yanlu, He Guang Ba, Huang Xing Liao, He Lou, Li Yung, and Zhang Linyu including their Filipino employees Eric Jorolan, Marivic Satol, Marlyn Magno, Ma. Fe De Campo, Alexander Farinas, and Benedict Carces.

The incident took place shortly after the driver of the Chinese nationals went outside the compound. When he returned after a few minutes, the suspects rushed him as he was about to enter the gate and quickly stripped their security guard of his firearm.

Some of the suspects then went directly to the room where the main CCTV room was located, seized the hard drive, and gathered all 16 Chinese nationals and their six Filipino employees in one room before stripping them of their personal belongings.

The gunmen fled with some P400,000 worth of cash and nearly P400,000 in valuables, including two diamond rings and other gadgets.

De Leon said that on January 6, 2020, they found out that the suspect survived a gun attack along Manuel L. Quezon Avenue in Bgy. Bagumbayan in Taguig City, perpetrated by two motorcycle-riding assassins.

He added that the accused has also been identified as a former member of the “Arnaiz-Quilpa kidnapping-for-ransom group” involved in KFR (kidnapping-for-ransom) activities in Metro Manila and was included in the National Watchlist on Illegal Drugs in 2020.