MANILA, Philippines - The principal suspect in the spate of robberies of dental clinics in Metro Manila and nearby provinces was arrested yesterday in Las Piñas City and owned up to 19 of the 23 reported cases.
Albert Galang de la Cruz, 31, admitted robbing his victims but denied raping or sexually molesting any of them.
“I only rob my victims. I don’t have to rape or sexually molest them,” De la Cruz told The STAR.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Alan Purisima said De la Cruz was nabbed at his residence in Pilar Village, Las Piñas City at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday.
Purisima said De la Cruz even pulled out a fan knife and a tear gas canister and tried to fight the arresting police officers.
The suspect even yielded a transparent plastic bag containing crystalline substance suspected to be shabu.
De la Cruz used the aliases of Alvin, Aldrin, Alex, Alexander, Jeffrey, Jason, and Jake, and the surnames of Galang, Musngi, Maliwat, Gapeon and Santos.
Purisima said De la Cruz was arrested after Judge Mary Ann Rivera of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 48 of San Fernando, Pampanga, issued an arrest warrant for him for robbery.
Police teams headed by Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa, NCRPO intelligence chief, were led to De la Cruz’ residence by his cohort Ronald Policarpio who was arrested last Aug. 24 in Barangay Silangan, Quezon City.
Policarpio was arrested on the strength of an arrest warrant for robbery issued by Judge Maria Felimena Singh of the Quezon City RTC Branch 85.
Capa said Policarpio admitted joining De la Cruz in two robberies against dentists.
Capa added that several victims had identified De la Cruz.
“The long arm of the law finally catches up with these (sex) perverts,” said Purisima during a press briefing yesterday at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
“I’m now calling on the other victims to pursue their cases against De la Cruz and Policarpio. Let us put these two in jail for good,” he added.
Purisima said information provided by concerned citizens and the cooperation of the victims and the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) led to the arrest of Policarpio and De la Cruz.
Capa said they also recovered at De la Cruz’s residence two backpacks, one of which was owned by one of the victims.
A follow-up operations conducted by Chief Inspectors Redentor Agcio and Ferjen Torred, of the NCRPO’s regional police intelligence operation unit, led to the recovery from pawnshops of three pieces of jewelry, which were part of the duo’s loot.
“They pawned the pieces of jewelry from P5,000 to P7,000,” said Capa, adding that it took them four months to solve the case.
Capa said De la Cruz admitted that he was the one caught by a closed-circuit television camera during a recent robbery in Quezon City.
Purisima said there is a big possibility that other groups are using the same modus operandi employed by the arrested suspects to mislead police investigators.
Capa said De la Cruz, who hails from Sta. Ana, Pampanga, had served time for robbery at the Bureau of Corrections from 2004 to 2009 and started robbing dental clinics right after his release from prison.
According to the victims, De la Cruz would pose as patient and would then announce the heist using a semi-automatic pistol.
He would tie up his victims using a plastic straw or masking tape, divest them of their money and valuables before molesting or performing sexual acts in front of them.
During tactical interrogation, De la Cruz said he got mad at medical professionals after one of his friends died in his arm in a hospital where he brought him.
He said he targeted dental clinics instead of hospitals because “dentists are easy prey.”
Robert Tajonera, PDA president, congratulated the NCRPO for the arrest of De la Cruz and Policarpio but he said that the “fight is not yet over.”
Tajonera said preventive measures like the deployment of closed-circuit TV cameras in dental clinics should be pushed through to preempt other attacks against dentists, especially women.
“No person in his right mind would do this thing of sexually molesting dentists,” said Tajonera. “We are professionals and not criminals. We are only out to serve the public.”
He said the PDA, being a poor organization, did not offer any reward money for information leading to the arrests of the suspects.
Tajonera said the PDA had formed a committee to coordinate with the NCRPO in the filing of cases against the suspects.
After Purisima’s press briefing, both De la Cruz and Policarpio were subjected to medical examination to dispel allegations that they were tortured to admit their crime.
The NCRPO’s photographer also took the mug shots of the suspects.
Several female dentists who were around, expressed delight that the suspects were finally caught.
“They should not be released from jail so that we can have peace of mind while at work,” one of them said.