Police solve high-profile crime cases

CEBU, Philippines - High-profile crime cases shook the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Talisay in 2009 but the police eventually solved most of these crimes through intensive information gathering with the cooperation of the community.

But while the Mandaue and Talisay police received awards for their fast resolution of the big crimes that happened in their respective area of jurisdictions, their counterparts in Cebu City got criticized for their alleged slow response to solve the same problems.

Cebu City Police Office Patrocinio Comendador said that while they treat the criticisms as challenge, he explained that the crimes that happened in Cebu City and Mandaue were not the same as the suspects are all professional and each of the cases are different.

The CCPO later bounced back after it was able to solve the killing of Assistant City Prosecutor Patrick Bryan Osorio, the alleged abduction of a pastor’s wife, the robbery killing of an Iranian student and the arrest of the suspects in what is considered to be the biggest robbery incident in the city for the year, wherein P7.6 million worth of jewelry was taken.

A few days after the New Year, Assistant City Prosecutor Patrick Bryan Osorio was shot at Maria Gochan Village corner N. Bacalso Avenue, Barangay Mambaling. He was declared dead at the Perpetual Soccour Hospital after sustaining two gunshot wounds in his stomach.

On midmonth of June, a police team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Central Visayas, Regional Mobile Group (RMG), and Regional Intelligence Division raided the house of Allan Sinogat, one of the suspects in the killing of Osorio, in Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City by virtue of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras for illegal possession of firearms.

During the raid, the police recovered a Colt .45 pistol, a homemade shotgun, two magazines, and assorted bullets from the suspect’s house.

CCPO later filed a criminal complaint for murder against Sinogat, 31, deputy tanod chief of Barangay Maghaway.

On February 9, while the CCPO was still in quandary in gathering information on the killing of Osorio for the possible arrest of the perpetrators, another high-profile case put the city police in the limelight with the alleged abduction of the wife of the leader of a religious group by three men on board a blue Mitsubishi Lancer in Barangay Labangon.

Judith Jastiva, 39, a reflexologist, was on board a motorcycle driven by her husband, Leonardo Biljod Jastiva, Sr., 42, of San Isidro, Talisay City when the suspects allegedly blocked their way and eventually abducted her. Leonardo is the nationwide president of International Missionary Society of Seventh Day Adventist Church Reform Movement. He claimed that he has been receiving threats through his cellular phone.

However, Chief Insp. George Ylanan, chief of Intelligence Division and Management Branch, said that there are indications that the alleged abduction of Judith Jastiva was just staged.

This came after Allan Alingalan, president of the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement, the rival group of the organization headed by Jastiva, went to the IDMB and alleged that the mother organization would allow the leaders to move to New Zealand for good if there is a threat to their lives.

A week after the alleged abduction, a woman was found dead half naked in Sitio Cantipla I, barangay Tabunan. Jastiva identified the decomposing body as that of his wife Judith.

The police arrested Jastiva in the afternoon of February 19 for being the alleged mastermind of his wife’s slay as indicated in both physical and circumstantial evidence linking him to the crime.

On February 21, the court has declared as illegal the warrantless arrest of Jastiva and ordered the police to release him from jail immediately.

The CCPO, according to Comendador, will re-file the case after they were not able to file a motion for reconsideration before the city prosecutor’s office.

While the CCPO is still building up the case against Jastiva, they were confronted with another problem after an Iranian student of the University of the Visayas was robbed and killed at Sacred Heart Hills, Barangay Capitol Site around 3 a.m. last January 22.

Ashkan Aminian was just two months away shy of graduation when he was victimized by two youngsters, who were later identified as Kenneth “Kakak” Gabutan, 18, of Barangay Kalunasan, and his 16-year-old neighbor, who later surrendered to the police in separate instances and owned up to the crime.

The minor admitted he shot Aminian after the latter allegedly tried to fight back during the robbery by showing his karate skills.

However, the CCPO, along with Cebu City jail personnel, were suspected to be in cahoots with vigilantes after one of the four arrested suspects in what is considered as the biggest jewelry robbery in the city was gunned down at the jail gates just minutes after being released.

On August 14, Jeremy Polistico, 34, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while he and his lawyer have just got out of the Cebu City Jail.

Polistico, who hails from Barangay Poblacion 3, Clarin town in Misamis Occidental, was accused of robbing jewelry dealer Jennifer dela Cerna of P7.2 million worth of diamond jewelry.

He was arrested along with Noel Salig Davis, alias Jack-Jack, 44, of Panabo, Davao City; Kirby Baguio Abanilla, 27, of Barangay Pasil, Cebu City; Frederick Mancao Ybañez, 35, of Catadman, Ozamiz City.

The suspected robbers, were arrested after a they made a fatal mistake when they drove right in front of the Punta Princesa Police Station, and got stuck in traffic giving policemen the chance to pounce on them.

Despite these high-profile crime cases, Comendador said Cebu City is very peaceful compared to the last five years, especially year 2005, wherein the total crime volume dropped by 37 percent. He said there is also a drop of 49 percent on index crimes for the same period.

“Although, we have a minor increase in the crime volume this year, but the baseline data is always for the last five years, since this is more comprehensive. Most of all, important peace and order indicators, bank robbery, was totally absent since 2007. On establishment robbery, the last was in July this year and most important is that there was no police casualty while in the performance of duty for the year,” he explained

According to him, the CCPO was also able to nab and seize the largest shabu haul in the region for the year.“We have no backlog on high-profile murder cases and the arrest of Mindanao-based robbery group effectively abated the big-time robbery cases in the city,” he added.

As to vigilante-style killings, Comendador said there is no such killing in the city for the year.

Killings in Mandaue

On New Year’s Day, Mandaue City Police Office got a new director in the person of Police Senior Supt. Orlando Ualat Sr.

 But his assumption to office was met with sensational cases, as four days after he formally assumed, a wife of an OFW was stabbed dead inside her house after she was robbed of the proceeds of her small sari-sari store and jewelry a in Barangay Cabangcalan.

 Maria Jocelyn Mendoza, 40, was killed on the ground floor of her house around 6 a.m. when her neighbors were still asleep.

But three weeks after the incident, police considered Mendoza’s killing as solved after the lone killer was identified and traced in Leyte, where he allegedly went on hiding.

Another controversial case erupted when a dead body of a call center agent discovered outside a hotel room of the Nekkei Garden Hotel in Barangay Subangdaku.

Lynn Vi Ebarita was stabbed 24 times and her body stuffed in a plastic bag placed outside a hotel room. The stench eventually led to the body’s discovery on January 22, five days after a woman first checked in and paid for the room.

But not long after the killing, police pinned down Jonelle Enfectana, a close friend of the victim who later confessed her role in the attack.

Enfectana, 26, also a call center agent was being arrested after being accused of masterminding the death of her close friend, while the police are still in search for three men and a woman who were believed to be the ones who stabbed Ebarita 24 times allegedly on the orders of Enfectana.

In January 22, the police were again tasked to solve another heinous crime after the body of 24-year-old Emilie Nuñeza, a worker at the Mactan Export Processing Zone II, was found dead at the North Reclamation Area.

Drawn by the stench, a security guard found Nuñeza’s body partly hidden in a grassy lot behind a gasoline station. She was believed to be raped and strangled to death.

Nuñeza’s murder, was however solved days after her body was discovered with the arrest of the victim’s alleged “textmate,” Julius Coton, who owned up to the crime.

Another crime gripped Mandaue City residents when a member of an influential family was shot dead while he was inside the church compound.

Lawyer Santos Anthony Oraiz Cortes, 35, a cousin of Mayor Jonas Cortes, was killed while he was lighting a candle beside the Our Lady of Fatima church in Barangay Basak, at 6:30 pm of May 26.

But the case was quickly solved after the police traced the killers and identified them as they are known “toughies” in the area.

Murder cases were filed against Alberto “Botoy” Sevilleno, Joselito “Balong” Japuz and an unidentified companion for their participation in the killing of the lawyer.

Priest Shot Dead in Talisay

On July 6, a report on the killing of a priest assigned at the Naga Parish Church shocked the parishioners and the church officials alike.

Fr. Jovencio Rabusa, 46, was walking in the Cebu South Coastal Road in Barangay Cansojong, Talisay City when a group of youngsters robbed and shot him.

The priest died at the Talisay City District Hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds below his nape, butt and arm.

Talisay police believed robbery was behind the killing as the victim’s two cell phones were missing although his wallet, bracelet and watch were recovered.

Rabusa was reportedly on his way to his younger sister’s house in Sacred Heart Subdivision in Barangay Cansojong for a dinner when the perpetrators chanced upon him.

About two days after the incident, a 15-year-old boy surrendered to the police and admitted participation to the crime. This resulted to the arrest of Russel Rabanes, 28, the alleged gunman. Another suspect, Gerard Tradio, 18, was arrested before the minor surrendered while their remaining accomplice, a certain “Tungloy,” remains at large. 

The four suspects were charged with robbery with homicide, while Tradio faces additional charge for possession of illegal drugs after two packets of shabu were recovered from him during his arrest. — /WAB (THE FREEMAN)