5 carjack rings eyed

MANILA, Philippines - Five carjacking groups operating in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog are currently the subject of a massive manhunt by operatives of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG).

This developed as a KIA Carnival van found burning in an alley in Barangay San Simon in Dinalupihan, Bataan yesterday was confirmed to be the missing car of Emerson Lozano, whose charred remains were recovered last Friday in a grassy lot in Barangay Mancatian in Porac, Pampanga.

HPG officials said the subjects of the manhunt are the Dominguez group, Bonifacio group, Madrigal group, Ivan Padilla group and Chingasa group.

The Domiguez group is headed by Raymond Dominguez, believed to be behind the carjacking of eight luxury vehicles recovered from a rented condominium last November.

Authorities said Dominguez was recently released on bail after languishing in a provincial jail in Bulacan.

Last Aug. 2, Ivan Padilla was killed when his group reportedly shot it out with a police anti-carjacking unit. The police said the group was about to strike again in Makati City.

The anti-carjacking unit has also reportedly established profiles of some alleged car thieves as well as the areas of their operations.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, director of the Special Investigation Task Group, said they have identified one of the suspects in the Lozano case but refused to reveal the identity pending further investigation and his arrest.

“We are very positive that he was involved in the incidents. This is a very good breakthrough,” Estipona told reporters in a briefing at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) yesterday morning.

Investigators believe that a single group perpetrated the murders of Lozano and his driver Ernani Sensil, as well as Venson Evangelista, another car dealer who also went missing last Jan. 12 after meeting a prospective buyer in Cubao, Quezon City.

Estipona said Sensil was only “collateral damage” because the apparent targets were Lozano and Evangelista.

“Of the three, Sensil was immediately identified through his ID in his wallet. Forensic experts also said he was shot in the head and the slug was found imbedded in his lungs,” he said.

Estipona said the recovery of Lozano’s vehicle could also help investigators track down the perpetrators of the crime.

“Although the vehicle was burned, our forensic experts will further examine the vehicle and try to locate evidence that would lead us to the killers,” he added.

Revenge could be the motive

A police official said revenge could possibly be among the motives in the slaying of the two car dealers.

“We are digging into all angles and revenge is one of them. The car theft gang leader suspects that Evangelista and Lozano have something to do with his recent arrest,” said the police official, admitting that they are now zeroing in on a particular leader of a carjacking group based in Central Luzon.

The gang leader was arrested recently by elements of the HPG in his safehouse, which yielded several luxury vehicles, during a raid in Metro Manila.

Because of numerous warrant of arrests against him, the gang leader spent as much as P2.8 million to bail himself out of jail.

While in detention at a provincial jail, he managed to recruit “triggermen” among the other inmates facing serious charges, according to the police official.

“The car theft gang is now much bigger and its members are notorious in their chosen fields,” said the official who requested anonymity.

The killing of Evangelista and Lozano is the gang leader’s way of announcing his return to his illegal ways, he said. “It’s his way of saying ‘I’m back.’

“The gang knows the ins and outs of Central Luzon because it is where they operate,” a source told The STAR.

Police investigators ruled out car theft as the motive of the test-drive killing following the discovery of Lozano’s burned vehicle.

“Car theft was scratched from among the possible motives being looked into because no criminal would burn the vehicle if they are after it. The luxury vehicle being sold by Evangelista remains missing because the suspects might have second thoughts in destroying it, considering that it would bring large amount of money into their pockets,” said the source.

Police are also establishing the link of the car theft gang leader in the car dealing business of both Evangelista and Lozano.

“It is common knowledge that several car theft syndicates are selling their stolen vehicles through car dealers,” he added.

“We have no evidence as yet that the car theft gang leader and the slain car dealers have worked closely in the past,” the source said.

Suspects could be in Central Luzon

The recovery of Lozano’s missing vehicle in Bataan has prompted probers to theorize that the suspects in the killing of Lozano could possibly be holed up nearby.

Central Luzon police deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Wendy Rosario said the suspects could not have risked traveling far from their hideout to the site where they burned the car, amid heightened alert on the vehicle.

Emerson and his driver Sensil were supposed to meet a prospective buyer at a gas station along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City last Jan. 12 when they went missing.

Sensil’s remains, burned beyond recognition with a bullet hole in the head, were found a day later in Barangay Matayumtayum, La Paz, Tarlac.

Dinalupihan police investigator Police Officer 2 Joel Dula said that a certain Frederick Ablaza, a resident of San Simon, reported the burning van to barangay officials at about 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

“Ablaza said he was awakened by a series of ear-splitting explosion and then saw something burning afar. Upon close inspection, he saw it was a burning car but no one else was in the area,” Dula said, noting that the van was found ablaze in a rice field accessible through an interior road about 500 meters from the boundary of Floridablanca, Pampanga.

Senior Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao, Bataan police provincial director, said the vehicle was positively identified by responding scene of the crime operatives (SOCO) as a KIA Carnival with engine number J3-7253625 and chassis/body number KNAMB-761386234589, fitting the description of Emerson’s missing car, although the car plate was gone.

“The modus operandi are the same,” Rosario noted, theorizing that the killers of Lozano and Evangelista were the same group.

He, however, declined to comment on reports that a .9mm pistol was used in both cases. He said probers are still at a loss on the real motive of the suspects.

“If the motive was to steal the car, then Lozano’s van could have been chop-chopped immediately. But then, it is possible that the alarm raised on the murders has made the car too hot to handle so they opted to burn it,” he said.

PNP warns car dealers

Because of the death of Lozano and Evangelista, the PNP called on car dealers to observe measures to avoid being victimized by criminal groups.

“We advise car dealers to always be with a companion during test drives, require an authentic identification card from the buyer, do the test drive only in places they are familiar with, and avoid evening test drives,” an HPG official said. “Car traders must be careful in allowing test drives.”

He expressed belief that the suspects used the test drive as an excuse to bait the car dealers to allow them to take the car.

A police official said the market for second-hand vehicles is flourishing, thus giving profitable business for car thieves. He pointed out that there was nothing wrong with buying previously owned vehicles provided the buyer could ensure the cars or vans were not “hot cars.”

The official added that the price of second-hand cars is only about half of the original price, which is usually over P1 million. – With reports from Ding Cervantes, Non Alquitran, Bebot Sison, Raffy Viray, Ric Sapnu, Sandy Araneta, Jun Elias, Jerry Botial