Greenbelt rob suspect falls

MANILA, Philippines – Police arrested in Pangasinan last Saturday another member of the Alvin Flores gang that was involved in the heist at the Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City last Oct. 18.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa said members of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO), Police Regional Office 1, and the Pangasinan provincial police nabbed the suspect, Dennis Serquina, at his residence in Purok 2, Barangay Aloo in Umingan, Pangasinan.

Verzosa said Serquina admitted his participation in the Greenbelt 5 robbery and identified his companions as Jay-R Zaldivar, Roger Carbonell, Walter Rodriquito and six others known only as Romy, Katawan, Taba, Toling, Joseph and Boyet who are now being tracked down by law enforcement agencies.

He said Serquina claimed that he and four other suspects in the robbery were also working as bodyguards of a town mayor in Pangasinan.

The mayor was not identified pending police verification of the claim of Serquina.

NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales said Serquina was one of the suspects who were recorded by a closed circuit television camera installed at the Rolex store at the ground floor of Greenbelt 5.

One of the suspects in the Rolex store robbery was identified as Armando Domingo who was shot dead by responding police officers during the robbery.

Serquina also pinpointed Alvin Flores as the leader of the robbery gang.

Flores and three other suspects Richie Gigante Hijapon, Marc Alejandro Bondoc Salamanca, and Roger Sanchez were killed in a shootout with combined agents from the police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a beach resort in Cebu City last week.

Serquina claimed that he, Carbonell, Rodriquito, Zaldivar, and a certain Joseph are working as bodyguards of the town mayor in Pangasinan.

Verzosa directed Chief Superintendent Romeo Gatan, PRO1 director, to validate the claim of Serquina and determine whether they can file charges against the mayor.

The PNP chief has created Task Group Alvin Flores to neutralize not only the gang but also other organized crime groups following the rash of robbery cases in Metro Manila and nearby provinces as the Christmas season and May 2010 elections draw near.

The PNP is also investigating if the robberies are part of the Pangasinan mayor’s fund raising drive.

Verzosa ordered the Directorate for Intelligence (DI) to update the PNP’s order of battle against organized crime group in preparation for a massive offensive against them.

NBI continues manhunt for gangmen

The NBI vowed to arrest the other members of the Alvin Flores group to prevent the gang members from regrouping after the killing of their leader last Thursday.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said manhunt operations were intensified following successive raids at the alleged hideouts of the syndicate over the weekend but no one was arrested.

“Flores (gang) had so many sub groups and each robbery was perpetrated by different sub-groups. But Flores led all the robberies. So each sub-group has different hideouts,” Mantaring said.

He said the remaining members of the group could take over the syndicate.

Mantaring confirmed last Friday that Flores and three other suspects were killed during shootout with NBI agents in Dodong’s Resort, Barangay Estaca in Compostela, Cebu.

Members of the NBI Task Force Against Armed Robbery Group (TFAAROG), Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (RIAD), and the NBI Central Visayas Regional Office (CEVRO) gunned down the suspects during the shootout.

TFAAROG headed by lawyer Roel Bolivar, chief of RAID, tracked down the group from Antipolo, Rizal: Bulacan, Pampanga, ending up in Cebu.

A gang member was placed under surveillance, which culminated in the shootout at the Dodong’s Resort in Compostela.

Another suspect identified as Rene Batiencela was arrested during the operations. Batiencela is now under the custody of the NBI Central Visayas Regional Office. He will be charged for his involvement in the Rolex store robbery in Greenbelt 5, Makati City and the robberies of four warehouses in Pasig City.

Lasala said Flores’s group also robbed the Waltermart in Muñoz, Quezon City; Union Bank in Makati City; Union Bank in Alabang, Muntinlupa City; RC Cola in

Valenzuela City, Semicon in Pasig City and four warehouses in Pasig City. - With Edu Punay