Mandaue cops now have names of suspects in manager's slay

After he was given 72 hours to solve the robbery and killing of a bank manager last Tuesday night or face relief, Mandaue City police chief S/Supt. Eduardo Catabas Jr. yesterday said that they already have two suspects.

In an interview over dyLA yesterday, Catabas said that despite having the names of the two suspects, he is preparing for whatever will happen after the 72 hours given by Mayor Thadeo Ouano which started Thursday afternoon.

Catabas did not mention the names of the suspects but said they are natives of Cebu.

He said he even wants to go out to the field but cannot leave his office because of many items that need his attention.

Meanwhile, elements of Pardo police station collared a man ranked no. 8 in the watchlist of robbery suspects in their jurisdiction.

The suspect was identified as Rusty Luage, 23, of Bamboo Village, sitio Laguna, barangay Basak-San Nicolas, Cebu City.

The Pardo police station received a text message through text-a-crime hotline from a concerned citizen regarding an armed person roaming Bamboo Village.

SPO4 Henry Equia who responded on the alarm collared Luage and seized a .38 cal. revolver with five live bullets and a pack of suspected shabu from the suspect. PO1 Dwayne Aquino confirmed that Luage is the 8th in their watchlist of robbery suspects operating in their jurisdiction.

In a related development three police trainees who are undergoing field training with the Traffic Group of the Cebu City Police Office arrested a motorcycle-for-hire driver who was carrying a gun last Thursday night.

PO1s Wilberto Baylon, Jubert Bagaporo, both from Region 10, and PO1 Ianne Fortich of Police Regional Office-7 were conducting operations against motorcycles-for-hire in the corner of Salinas Road and Gorordo Avenue in Lahug when they came upon Eugenio Baylosis, 28, of sitio Kamagong, barangay Lahug.

Baylon spotted Baylosis calling for passengers at the said area and asked him for his license and motorcycle registration, when the suspect asked what violation he had committed an argument ensued.

When the other policemen approached Fortich reportedly noticed a gun handle protruding from the waistband of the suspect's pants, prompting him to call for backup. With the help of SPO1 Ramon Budiongan of the Traffic Group who arrived shortly they arrested Baylosis.

A homemade Frontier revolver loaded with six live bullets was seized from Baylosis. A Frontier revolver is a small gun designed to accommodate 5.56mm bullets meant for the M-16 rifle.

Earlier, Police Regional Office-7 director C/Supt. Silverio Alarcio said that the local police failed to maximize the utilization of the more than 1,400 Field Training Personnel deployed for the upcoming ASEAN Summit this December.

Last Thursday, high ranking police officials from PRO-7 inspected different areas around Metro Cebu checking FTPs in their assigned posts.- Gregg M. Rubio and Edwin Ian Melecio