P.7-M reward ready for Parañaque shootout tipster

Police are ready to hand over a P700,000 reward promised the informant who squealed on the Waray-Waray robbery gang that engaged policemen in a shootout in Parañaque last week.

Speaking at a weekly forum in Quezon City yesterday, Metro Manila police commander Director Leopoldo Bataoil said they are coordinating with the Highway Patrol Group to identify the informant.

If nobody claims the P700,000, it will be given as financial assistance to the civilian casualties of the shootout, he added.

Bataoil said an additional P1.3 million reward was put up for the arrest of the remaining 13 gang members, who have remained at large.

Police will launch a nationwide manhunt for these gang men, he added.

Don’t cremate them

Meanwhile, a forensic expert hired by the Commission on Human Rights asked relatives of civilians slain in the shootout to defer their burial or cremation until her team has conducted a second autopsy on the remains.

Dr. Raquel Fortun, a forensic pathologist and professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, said a carefully preserved body is crucial to obtain an accurate account of what actually happened during the shootout.

“We will not just (be) examining the body… We hope to re-construct what really happened based on whatever physical evidence that’s still left,” she said.

The Internal Affairs Service has restricted at least 49 policemen from the Southern Police District (SPD) and the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) involved in last Friday’s shootout to ensure their availability for an ongoing parallel investigation by the IAS.

IAS Inspector General Jaime Tagaca said 38 policemen were from the HPG, the police unit that led the operation, and 11 were from the SPD, which has jurisdiction over the area.

He added that they have yet to get the names of the Special Action Force policemen involved in the shootout.

Tagaca said the 49 policemen are confined within the camp and would need permission to go outside the camp.

IAS officials also cleared Ronald Eusebio, an employee of the South Luzon Expressway, of criminal involvement.

Tagaca said suspect Rico Malmis, alias Kalag, told investigators that Eusebio was not included in their group.

He said that when the suspects, who were riding a Toyota Revo, commandeered a Toyota Vios along the West Service Road, seven squeezed into the vehicle and Charlito Azarcon, a former Scout Ranger, flagged down Eusebio and forced him to give him a ride on his motorcycle.

Tagaca said Eusebio tested positive for paraffin because he rode in tandem with Azarcon, who shot it out with pursuing policemen. Both Eusebio and Azarcon were killed.

He also defended the policemen who engaged the suspects in a shootout, saying they were “very discreet” in using their firearms.

He said some of the suspects escaped when a jeepney loaded with commuters passed between them and the police, who held their fire until the jeepney passed.

If the lawmen had indiscriminately fired, Tagaca said “were talking here of about 100 casualties,” considering that the shootout happened at 9:30 p.m. on the West Service Road. He blamed the casualties on Malmis’ group.

17 big-time heists

The combined group of the Waray Waray and Ozamis robbery gangs were mainly responsible for at least 17 big-time heists in Metro Manila since April, the Manila Police District (MPD) said yesterday.

In a press conference, MPD director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales said the two groups could have earned millions of pesos for the jobs.

According to Rosales, some of the robberies the groups had participated in are those at the RC Cola warehouse in Novaliches on April 14, the St. Scholastica’s College in Marikina on May 16, the NFA warehouse in Valenzuela on June 1, IDS Logistics in Parañaque on July 10, Freshtex in Muntinlupa on July 16, Mayers Steel Pipe and Continental Steel in Valenzuela on Sept. 2, R & T Transport in Caloocan City on Sept. 10, Fone Tech International Inc. in Wellcom, Makati on Sept. 17, Wellbest in Pasig on Oct. 1, Island Gas Corp. in Pasig on Oct. 12, the LRT depot in Pasay City on Oct. 13, Navotas fishport on Nov. 23, Shell-Select gasoline station at the North Luzon Expressway in Bulacan, and the recent armored van robbery in UP-Diliman.

Rosales said remnants of the Waray-Waray and Ozamis groups have banded together under the leadership of Alvin Flores, alias “Lexter” and “Bunso.” Other members of the group are the Flores siblings Daniel alias Tulig and Merlina, Walter Mutia alias Waway, and Martin Lico Jr. alias Bogart. The group’s financier is known as a certain “Tata Revo.”

Other members of the gang who are now being hunted by the police are Inday Rocha, the alleged leader and financier of the Ozamis gang; her niece, Beverly Rocha, who allegedly spots potential targets; Ronel Campos, a former member of the Special Action Force; alias Ompong, a former Army man; JR, Manny, Waway and Joseph. – Perseus Echeminada, Katherine Adraneda, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Nestor Etolle