One more Greenbelt robbery suspect falls

MANILA, Philippines - Another member of the Alvin Flores gang that robbed a watch store at the Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City on Oct. 18 has been arrested in Pangasinan, police said yesterday.

Warlito Rodriquito, alias Wallet, gave himself up peacefully to joint elements of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) and the Pangasinan police provincial office in Tayug town.

The arrest of Rodriquito brought to three the number of Alvin Flores gang members who are now in police custody.

But unlike Dennis Serquina, who was arrested last Saturday, Rodriquito chose to remain silent on his role during the Greenbelt 5 heist, according to NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales.

He said Rodriquito is now under the custody of the 107 Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) in Pangasinan undergoing tactical interrogation.

“We have now in custody two members of the Alvin Flores gang members. We have six tracker teams going after other members of the gang in Pangasinan and its nearby provinces,” Rosales told The STAR.

Serquina was arrested last Saturday in his residence in Purok 2, Barangay Aloo, Umingan town by joint elements of the NCRPO, Pangasinan police and the Police Regional Office 1 (PRO1).

Rosales said the registration of the caliber .45 automatic pistol recovered from Armando Domingo, who was killed in an encounter with the bodyguards of Taguig City Mayor Freddie Tinga at the height of the robbery, was traced to Serquina.

Serquina was one of the five robbers who entered the Rolex watch store located at the ground floor of the Greenbelt 5 mall along Ayala Ave.

A surveillance camera captured his face along with Flores and a certain Waway, according to Rosales.

During tactical interrogation, Serquina named Flores, the gang leader, Jay-R Zaldivar, Domingo, Roger Carbonell alias Mata, Rodriquito alias Jose, Romy, and several others known only by their aliases as Katawan, Taba, Toling, Joseph and Boyet, as his companions in the daring broad daylight robbery.

He said he, along with Carbonell, also a resident of Barangay Aloo, in Umingan town, Rodriquito, Saldivar of Cabanatuan City and a certain Joseph were working as bodyguards of San Nicolas, Pangasinan mayor Leoncio S. Saldivar III.

Police are now investigating on his alleged role in the robbery activities of his bodyguards.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said President Arroyo is alarmed over reports that Saldivar has links with the gang.    

“That is a very serious accusation and that serious accusation needs to be investigated on because this government will never allow anybody using the powers of being an executive of a local government unit to take advantage of their influence or authority or their power for heinous crimes,” Golez told a news briefing.

He said the Palace has asked PNP officials to give updates on their investigation.

A bloody trail

Rosales admitted that an informant of Senior Superintendent Billy Beltran, NCRPO intelligence chief, is providing them tips on the whereabouts of the remaining suspects.

Flores, a resident of 41 Longos St., Malolos, Bulacan, and three of his companions were killed in a shootout with elements of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at a beach resort in Cebu last week.

Also killed were Flores’s right hand, Richie Gigante Hijapon, of Dapdap, Kinatarkan, Santa Fe, Cebu; Marc Alejandro Bondoc Salamanca and Roger Sanchez, of Milaor, Camarines Sur.

Rene Batiencela, a key player of the group, was arrested during the raid.

He has an outstanding warrant of arrest for illegal possession of firearms issued by Judge Alma Crispina Collado Lacorte of Caloocan City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 51.

Batiencela is now under the custody of the NBI Central Visayas Regional Office and will be charged for his involvement in the Rolex store heist along with the robbery incidents in four warehouses in Pasig City and the robbery attempt at Pepsi Cola, Manila.

NBI hunting remaining gang members

Police said the group was also behind the series of robbery in Waltermart in Muñoz, Quezon City, Union Bank in Makati City, Union Bank in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, RC Cola, Valenzuela City, and Semicon in Pasig City.

Mantaring said his men continue to hunt down other gang members who were not at the hiding place during the NBI’s raid.

“Flores had several sub-groups. Each robbery was perpetrated by different sub-groups, but Flores led all the robberies. So each sub-group has a different hideout,” Mantaring said.

He said the NBI has continued monitoring to make sure they would be able to arrest all the members.

Mantaring had ordered the manhunt following the Rolex store heist in Greenbelt 5.

The NBI Task Force Against Armed Robbery Group (TF: AAROG), led by the Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (RAID) and the NBI Central Visayas Regional Office (CEVRO), pursued the trail left by the outlaws.

The task force, headed by lawyer Roel Bolivar, chief of RAID, tracked down the group from Antipolo, to Bulacan, to Pampanga, and ended up in Mandaue City, Cebu.

One member was tailed, eventually paving the way for the operatives to zero in on the gang’s hideout at Dodong’s Resort, Barangay Estaca, Compostela, Cebu at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The group’s lair was located after extensive undercover work, surveillance and stake out in the neighboring municipalities of Mandaue, Compostela and Liloan.

Flores and his men shot it out with NBI operatives.

Recovered from the scene were several firearms including one M-16 rifle, one KG 9 caliber 9MM machine pistol and two caliber .45.

The getaway vehicle of the group, a Silver Toyota Revo with plate number XGE-164, was likewise seized during the operation.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa has ordered his men to neutralize the gang and other organized crime groups in the country. -- with Sandy Araneta, Paolo Romero