Exploring the self

A witness positively identified one of the arrested suspects as part of a gang of robbers who killed Makati City Police District (MCPD) deputy chief Colonel Joven Bocalbos in Quezon City late Wednesday.

The witness, identified only as “Mark,” told investigators that Bernardino Peralta, 37, a resident of a depressed community in Barangay Pag-asa, Quezon City, was one of the culprits.

The Quezon City Criminal Investigation Detection Unit (QC-CIDU) arrested four of the five suspected members of a holdup gang who killed Bocalbos and robbed the passengers of the van he drove to shuttle commuters along Commonwealth Avenue.

Quezon City police arrested Peralta and the three others less than 24 hours after Bocalbos was killed at around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday.

Bocalbos was off-duty at the time and was moonlighting as a driver of a passenger van from Quezon Avenue to Almar-Zabarte Road where he picked up seven passengers, including “Mark.” The suspects reportedly posed as passengers.

Mark said Bocalbos tried to fight it out with the suspects, refusing to stop and park the vehicle. The suspects pushed him from the driver’s seat and shot him pointblank after they discovered he was carrying his service firearm.

Quezon City Police District spokesman Superintendent Asper Cabula said investigators are still pursuing robbery as a motive in Bocalbos’ killing.

Southern Police District (SPD) director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales has indicated that Bocalbos may have been killed by assassins working for one of the enemies he reportedly made when he worked as an intelligence officer for the National Capital Region Police Office.

Bocalbos was also chief of the SPD’s Police Community Relations Office before he was assigned to the MCPD last May 7. He left a wife and three children.

The QC-CIDU, headed by Colonel Franklin Mabanag, is still waiting for other witnesses to give their accounts of the incident.

The QC-CIDU earlier produced sketches of the three suspects as described by witnesses.