PNP: Kuratong Baleleng is back

The police are doubling intelligence-gathering efforts to avert attacks by criminal groups, particularly by remnants of the dreaded Kuratong Baleleng group, on Metro Manila’s banks and other business establishments.

Acting Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said yesterday that the police are checking reports that the group behind the robbery and killing of a security guard of an Equitable-PCIBank branch in Quezon City last Friday could be remnants of the Kuratong Baleleng.

"All indications show that the perpetrators were members of the gang," said Ebdane, who is also the PNP’s deputy chief for administration.

Ebdane said police investigators noted the similarities in the modus-operandi of the suspects in the May 25 robbery and that of the Kuratong Baleleng gang.

"They were very bold as manifested in how they entered the bank, killed the security guard and took the loot," he said.

The PNP, according to Ebdane, has laid down contingency plans to prevent robbery groups from attacking business establishments since schools, universities and colleges are scheduled to start classes next month.

Ebdane’s statements came on the heels of intelligence reports that the Kuratong Baleleng gang has intensified anew its criminal activities, including bank robberies and smuggling activities, in the southern part of the country.

Six men robbed the Equitable-PCIBank branch on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City and shot dead the bank’s security guard, Herman Roqueno, 34, of Eagle Star Security Agency.

Police Chief Inspector Rodolfo Jaraza of the Central Police District’s homicide division, said the suspects, wearing black bonnets and armed with M-16 Armalite rifles, suddenly opened fire on the bank’s security guard before entering the premises at around 10:30 a.m.

They entered the bank, declared a holdup and informed the tellers and clients to lie face down on the floor as they ransacked the tellers’ drawers, case officer PO3 Ferdinand Paredes said.