LAST Saturday’s daring heist in Pasig City again proved one thing: many good cops are out there to shoot and arrest bad cops once they start firing. It was really a case of ‘good cops versus bad cops’ which could have this week’s top story if not for super typhoon ‘Odette’ which ravaged many parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

NCRPO director, Major General Vic Danao was seething with anger when he confronted the three Taguig City policemen arrested in connection with the robbery-holdup incident, to the point of warning them they could end up dead in the streets in case they managed to post bail.

The Metro Manila police chief was referring to the ‘so young yet to corrupt cops’ from Taguig City who are now facing criminal and administrative charges that would sure merit their dismissal from the police force and a lengthy jail term upon conviction.

“Nakakatindig ng balahibo sa galit. Mantakin mo, yung isa, wala pang isang taon na nagpulis pero grabe na talaga, holdupper na,” Maj. Gen. Danao told me. However, the only consolation here is that at least four rogue policemen have been unmasked, jailed and facing the prospect of getting the ax early next year, both Danao and Southern Police District director, Brigadier Gen. Jimili Macaraeg told me.

PNP chief, General Dionards Carlos has ordered Maj. Gen. Danao to thoroughly investigate the Pasig City heist which resulted in the arrest of four Taguig City policemen and the death of one of their civilian cohorts.

Being a veteran police reporter, here are some of the questions that need to be answered by the probe ordered by Gen. Carlos. Was it an inside job? Who really killed one of the suspects? Was it the 1st time they committed such act? Did the stolen money come from an illegal source? Who are the other cohorts and accomplices of the suspects from the force?

Gen. Carlos has ordered Danao to place under strict restrictive custody the four accused Taguig City policemen for their participation in the robbery at the house of a Japanese expat and his Filipina partner in Pasig City shortly after midnight on Saturday.

The incident also triggered the administrative relief of Major Nimrod Balemino Jr., the commander of the Taguig City Police Sub-Station 1 where the four arrested policemen are assigned to preclude any possibility of undue influence in the investigation which seeks to get to the bottom of the incident and unmask all persons involved.

Facing dismissal from the PNP next year are the four Taguig City policemen identified by Danao as Staff Sergeant Jayson Bartolome, Corporals Merick Desoloc and Christian Jerome Reyes and Patrolman Kirk Joshua Almojera.

NCRPO agents are also still tracking down two other suspects identified as dismissed NCRPO policeman Ferdinand Fallari and a certain ‘Ruwel Galang.’ I hope and pray that our good cops won’t be beaten to the race to account for the two suspects amid the possibility that their other cohorts would decide to ‘silence’ them permanently.

The suspects were identified as the armed men who staged a robbery at No. 8 Sta. Elvira Street in Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City at 12:10 a.m. last Saturday and held at gunpoint Joana Marie Flores Espiritu, 26, and her 42-year old live-in partner, Japanese Kani Toshiro.

According to initial reports, the suspects forced Toshiro to open a vault and scooped out an estimated P30-million cash and an expensive mobile phone.

It was like a scene from an action movie wherein the suspects escaped on board four motorcycles. The real-life drama captured on CCTV showed two of the suspects throwing a bagful of money and climbing a fence while officers are shooting at them.

I learned that while escaping on board four motorcycles, the suspects were engaged by alert police responders triggering a brief shootout that resulted to the death of suspect John Carlo Atienza and the wounding of SSgt. Bartolome.

As of press time, investigators are still determining who really tipped the suspects regarding the presence of the Japanese national keeping millions of pesos in his vault in Pasig City. There were initial suspicions that the ‘tipster’ could be a girlfriend of one of the arrested policemen and this was further bolstered by the arrest of AJ Mary Agnas, a 22-year old staff of the victims. The woman turned out to be a resident of Zone 5, Bgy. Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

Another suspicion is that the slain Atienza could have been actually shot by one of the policemen-suspects in order to ‘silence him.’ The 30-year old Atienza, a resident of no. 128 Zone 2, Bgy. Fort Bonifacio was found dead with a gunshot wound at Kalayaan Avenue corner Tolentino St. in Bgy. Pinagkaisahan in Makati City. A PNP-issued 9mm Pietro Beretta 9mm pistol was recovered at the spot where the body of Atienza was found.

Although it was another embarrassment on the part of the PNP, the fact still remains that the quick response from the Pasig City policemen thwarted the escape plan of the rogue Taguig Cit policemen. It was really not a perfect crime even though they involved men in uniform who are trained in ‘escape and evasion’ tactics.’

’ For that, Maj. Gen. Danao recognized officers and men of the Pasig City Police Station headed by Colonel Roman Arugay and the Eastern Police District under Brigadier Gen. Orlando Yebra for their ‘exemplary performance and vigilance’ which led in the arrest of the robbery suspects.

The Metro Manila police chief said that shortly after the suspects fled on board their motorcycles, the victims immediately sought assistance from local police authorities with the help of a barangay security force member.

Wasting no time, responding Pasig City policemen immediately conducted a hot pursuit operation and were able to trace the possible location or direction of the fleeing suspects from West Capitol Drive to Sta. Monica in Bgy. Kapitolyo, Pasig City.

Maj. Gen. Danao said that in their attempt to elude arrest, some of the suspects tossed tossed part of their loot in the air to attract public attention and cover their escape. The money thrown in the air was said to be about P1.3 million.

While escaping, the suspects fired at the Pasig City policemen triggering a brief firefight until two of the armed men abandoned their motorcycles and climbed the closed gate at West Capitol Drive.

The suspects at gunpoint then stole the motorcycle of a passing driver and fled towards the direction of Bonifacio Global City. The stolen motorbike was recovered beside the Pasig Mega Parking along Caruncho Avenue in Bgy. San Nicolas, Pasig City. A Yamaha Mio Sporty motorcycle was also abandoned by one of the suspects at the closed gate at West Capitol Drive.

Maj. Gen. Danao said that Cpl. Reyes yielded a PNP-issued 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol with a magazine containing 15 live ammunition and P100,000 in cash. Also found inside the top box of the suspect’s Yamaha NMAX with plate no. 1801-00038538 were P8,941,000 in cash.

Cpl. Desoloc meanwhile yielded P100,000 in cash and his service 9mm pistol with a magazine containing nine bullets. Pat. Almojera yielded a PNP-issued Canik 9mm pistol with one magazine containing 12 live ammunition.

Commendations particularly should be given to the Pasig police intelligence unit led by Major Jose Luis Aguirre, the Pasig City Sub-Station 1 headed by Maj. Diogenes Gaoaen, the Pasig SWAT team led by Lieutenant Melvin Balbag and the Criminal Investigaiton Section led by Chief Master Sgt. Rolando Anselmo Jr. and Senior MSgt. Miguel Torallo for their role in the arrest of Reyes and Agnas.

It turned out that Cpl. Desoloc and Pat. Almojera voluntarily surrendered to Taguig City police chief, Col. Celso Rodriguez who later turned them over to the Pasig City police. Rodriguez however is yet to be relieved of his post under the so-called ‘principle of command responsibility’ which in the past triggered the relief of police station commanders whose men were arrested for their involvement in so-called ‘hulidap and bangketa’ operations.

The NCRPO chief said that criminal and administrative charges will be filed against the suspects as he ensured the dismissal from the police force of the accused. Danao strongly condemned the four policemen’s act while lauding those who arrested them.

“ The immediate arrest/ apprehension of the four suspects and a civilian is an apparent indication that the PNP is serious in its intention to weed out scalawags, misfits and hoodlums in uniform. I will ensure to cleanse our ranks. As I have said, any criminal act committed that would endanger the police organization will never be tolerated to protect its integrity,” the official said.