‘Notorious holdup man’ gives police big headache

Police investigators bewailed yesterday the coddling of a notorious holdup man by his family, giving rise to robbery incidents in Sampaloc, Manila.

Police said Josue Constantino Jr., 32, of 1776 Sobriedad st., Sampaloc has been previously arrested and positively identified by his victims in seven cases of robbery-holdup. However, Constantino’s mother manages to bail him out everytime he is arrested. His mother pays 10 percent of a surety bond, or P10,000, for each count of robbery-holdup, police said.

"The problem with the suspect is he returns to his criminal activities everytime he is bailed out," said a police investigator, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from the influential family of the suspect.

Police records showed that last Wednesday, the suspect, together with a male companion, held up a female employee who lost P15,000. Police arrested Constantino’s companion identified as Jessie Bernardo, 26, of 581 Prudencio st., Sampaloc who was sighted by the victim on a street corner in a follow-up operation.

The victim told police she saw Constantino enter his residence after the holdup, but police said they could not arrest him inside his residence in the absence of a warrant.

"That is the problem with our laws. In this case we know that the suspect is inside his house, but we could not arrest him without a warrant, unless he comes out of his house," said an investigator.

Police released the photo of Constantino and advised the public to call the police if he is sighted. They also warned that the suspect is armed with a gun.

"This person is a scourge of society. Though we want him eliminated, we should follow the rule of law," an investigator lamented.

He also called on the judges trying Constantino’s cases to hasten the promulgation of their decisions so he could be jailed if found guilty.