Police officer denies being protector of Dominguez group

MANILA, Philippines –  A police official denied accusations that he is the protector of the Dominguez carjack gang linked to the brutal slaying of used-car dealer Venson Evangelista.

Superintendent Napoleon Cauyan, assigned at the holding center at Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, Quezon City, said he is ready to appear at the Senate hearing to clear his name and reveal all he knows about the carjacking syndicates.

“Enough is enough. They have been implicating me in almost all cases that surfaced and which I have no knowledge of,” Cauyan said, adding that he would not be surprised if his enemies would implicate him in the bombing of a passenger bus in Makati City last Tuesday.

Cauyan said he does not personally know Raymond or Roger Dominguez, brothers who were tagged as leaders of the carjack gang operating in Central Luzon.

He issued his statement after reports had identified him as one of the police protectors of the Dominguez gang.

He explained that he was already relieved as regional commander of the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) in Region 3 in 2006 when the Dominguez brothers started their criminal activities.

He pointed out that during his term as HPG regional commander, he arrested several big-time carjackers and recovered several stolen vehicles.

Cauyan said he also joined the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) in the drive against car thefts in 2009 and helped recover at least 60 stolen vehicles, including the Range Rover owned by Mark Chua, which was sporting a No. 6 license plate issued to Cabinet members.

The NCRPO also raided the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and arrested two employees suspected of being in cahoots with carjacking syndicates in registering stolen vehicles.

Armed men even ambushed Cauyan near the LTO compound in Quezon City last March, but he survived despite suffering 14 gunshot wounds.

“They should not pin the blame on me with regard to the Dominguez carjacking gang. They should investigate police officials who arrested them and why he managed to get bail each time,” said Cauyan.

Cauyan said he is still recuperating from his gunshot wounds and has been moving from one province to another for his therapy treatment.

He said he also set up a small business to supplement his income from the PNP and pay for his hospital expenses.

Cauyan regularly reports at Camp Crame. He said he would gladly attend a Senate public hearing once he is invited to any inquiry on carjacking operations.

Meanwhile, investigators reported that the alleged getaway vehicle of the Dominguez brothers was found at the parking area of SM shopping mall in San Fernando, Pampanga last Sunday.

Chief Superintendent Alan la Madrid, Central Luzon police director, said the vehicle believed to have been used by the Dominguez brothers was a Toyota Revo with license plate SCG-388.

The getaway vehicle was believed to have been used by the Dominguez brothers to evade arrest when the police raided the gang’s alleged safehouse at Guesa Apartment B, Greenville Subdivision in Barangay San Jose, San Fernando, Pampanga last Jan. 14.

Members of the police Highway Patrol Group Region 3 (HPG3), Pampanga Police, Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit Region 3 (CIDU3) and Crime Laboratory Office-3 raided the safehouse of the Dominguez brothers, who were not at the house when the raiding team arrived.

The next day police recovered the getaway vehicle that was turned over to the HPG3 at Camp Olivas in San Fernando, Pampanga.

DOJ forms team to probe Dominguez gang

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has created a three-woman panel of prosecutors to review past cases of Raymond Dominguez to determine how he was able to get away with his previous carjacking cases.

In a department order, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima assigned Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo, Assistant State Prosecutor Vilma Lopez-Sarmiento and Prosecution Attorney Mary Jane Sytat as members of the review panel tasked to find out if there were irregularities in the resolution of past cases of Dominguez.

The panel, which has 30 days to submit a report, will also determine if there were law enforcers and even fellow fiscals who could be held liable for questionable cases.

She explained that she preferred lady prosecutors to handle the review because they are “not only efficient but also hardworking.”

She likewise told the probers to look into the case of Police Officer 1 Jericho Ballena who was previously charged with falsification of documents of vehicles, but was cleared by the investigating prosecutor.

“I got a report from the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) and I want it validated if indeed the dismissal of the charges was questionable,” De Lima told a press conference.

She said Ballena’s case is not related to the Dominguez gang.

Reports said Dominguez is facing 34 cases, including 20 carjacking cases, and has posted bail on 31 of those cases.

Dominguez had been linked to the carjacking of a Toyota Land Cruiser of car dealer Venson Evangelista, who disappeared in Quezon City on Jan. 13.

Evangelista’s charred body was found in Nueva Ecija the next day.

One of the suspects in the case, Alfred Mendiola, linked Dominguez to the Evangelista case, as well as a similar carjack-slay involving Emerson Lozano, son of Marcos lawyer Oliver Lozano, and his driver Ernane Sensil.

The police, however, have yet to charge Dominguez for the killing of Emerson and Sensil.

Emerson and Sensil disappeared on Jan. 12 while going to meet a prospective buyer of Lozano’s van.

Sensil’s charred body was found in Tarlac last Jan. 13, and Lozano’s charred remains were found in Pampanga on Jan. 14. Lozano’s van was found burning in Bataan last Jan. 19.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, director of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG), said some pieces of evidence gathered by the police could pin down the Dominguez gang for the killings of Evangelista, Lozano and Sensil.

He said the memory card of Sensil was among the pieces of evidence recovered from the rented apartment of the Dominguez group.

“There are some pieces of evidence that connect the killings…connection in the sense that there were items recovered from the raided apartment which belonged to Evangelista, Sensil and Lozano, so we are picking up from there,” said Estipona.

He said Sensil’s wife positively identified the memory card to be that of her husband. The woman gave the police the go signal to open the memory card to help solve the killing of her husband.

LTO chief Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres has ordered an investigation on all offices within the agency that are in charge of registration of motor vehicles amid insinuations that some LTO personnel are involved in the registration of stolen cars. – With Ric Sapnu, Reinir Padua, Edu Punay, Cecille Suerte Felipe