Caloocan’s most wanted falls

After 12 years of evading the law, Caloocan City’s most wanted criminal has been caught.

Suspect Cesar Suarez, 48, a native of Samar and a resident of Dagat-Dagatan, Caloocan City, was presented yesterday to media by Northern Police District director Chief Superintendent Raul Gonzales.

Chief Inspector Crisencio Galvez, Caloocan police intelligence branch chief, said Suarez is wanted for murder, robbery in band, and a string of robbery cases, mostly in the Maypajo and Dagat-Dagatan areas.

He is also the prime suspect in the 1993 murder of businesswoman Benita Mendoza and in the 1994 robbery of the Ang Pawnshop on 4th Avenue, Grace Park, Caloocan.

The suspect was able to avoid the law by transferring to several depressed areas, mingling with transient residents.

He befriended people in squatter communities and was even able to form the Landasca Urban Poor Group.

The suspect constantly moves around Sawata, Landasca, Maypajo and Dagat-Dagatan areas in Caloocan to evade authorities.

But last Tuesday at around 8 p.m., intelligence agents of the Caloocan police and the City Hall detachment, led by Inspector Rodrigo Soriano, were able to apprehend Suarez by virtue of warrants of arrest issued by Caloocan Judges Oscar Barrientos and Rene Victorino. – Pete Laude