Rookie cop mauled by bystanders in Caloocan

A 24-year-old rookie cop was beaten black and blue by three unidentified bystanders while walking home before dawn yesterday in Caloocan City.

Police Officer 1 Rodel de la Cruz, assigned at the National Capital Regional Police Office-Regional Special Action Unit (NCRPO-RSAU), is now confined at the Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital due to bruises and multiple stab wounds in different parts of the body.

Police report said that at around 2:30 a.m., the victim was walking along Purok 1, Kawal street in Dagat-Dagatan, when he was waylaid by three men, one identified only as alias "Aguila Cabuang."

Armed with bladed weapons, the suspects reportedly attacked the unsuspecting policeman and took turns in mauling and stabbing him.

The timely arrival of De la Cruz’s kin and other concerned residents in the area saved the policeman from further harm.

The Caloocan City police are now hunting down the culprits.

Meanwhile, in Navotas, a suspect in the rob-slay of fish trader and boat captain Bennie Barrameda last Sept. 18 at the town’s fish port complex was finally arrested Friday after months in hiding.

Chief Inspector Sotero Ramos Jr., chief of the Northern Police District intelligence unit, identified the suspect as Rey Cariaga, 23, of Block 3, Kadima street, Letre Road, Caloocan City.

Cariaga, alias ‘"Pakyaw," tagged by the police as the "fish port terror," was apprehended by intelligence operatives led by SPO4 Antonio Tenorio at around 9 a.m. by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Malabon City Judge Banjamin Antonio.