9 cops, civilian to receive awards

Nine policemen, including a Japanese cop, and a non-uniformed personnel were chosen as outstanding personnel of the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and will receive the awards in simple ceremonies at Camp Crame this morning.

Led by Superintendent Nelson Yabut, chief of the Western Metro Manila Criminal Investigation and Detection Team (WMMCIDT), the awardees are being honored for their accomplishments in neutralizing crime syndicates in Metro Manila.

Other CIDG officers who will receive the award from PNP chief Director General Arturo Lomibao and CIDG director Chief Superintendent Ricardo Dapat are Superintendent Napoleon Villegas Jr., Chief Inspector Prudencio Enojo Jr., Senior Inspector Nestor Aserit, SPO2 Danilo Castro, SPO1 Joselito Coronel, PO3 Renato Gregorio, PO2 Adolfo de Ramos and civilian personnel Angelito Ruaro. The lone Japanese awardee is Chief Inspector Yoshihiro Hosino, of the Japan International Coordinating Agency.

Former PNP chief Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza is the guest of honor and speaker.

Yabut, who assumed the leadership of the CIDG unit in Manila last November, has been credited for dismantling a number of big crime groups in the city, including members of a syndicate engaged in the sale of counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes in Malate last June.

Ten suspects were arrested while millions of dollars worth of fake Federal Reserve Notes were seized.

The US Embassy, through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and two Secret Service experts, which conducted the technical examination of the counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes, commended Yabut and his men.

The WMMCIDT was also credited for the arrest of 11 crewmen of an oil barge who were caught in the act of stealing millions of pesos worth of high-grade gasoline from an oil depot in Pandacan, Manila.

Officials of Petron Corp. had requested the assistance of Yabut following the discovery of large-scale pilferage of their petroleum products while in transit from their refinery in Limay, Bataan to their oil depot at the Pandacan terminal.

The WMMCIDT has also seized 24 duplicating machines and thousands of pirated video compact discs (VCDs) and digital video discs (DVDs) in a number of raids on suspected sources of pirated optical discs as part of the CIDG’s flagship project "Oplan Magdalena."

Yabut is also part of the group responsible for the neutralization of the dreaded bank robbery gang, Butchoy Group, last December in the northern part of Metro Manila.