Raps filed vs leftist rebel in Neri strafing

MANILA, Philippines - The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) has filed multiple criminal charges against a communist rebel who was allegedly among the armed men who strafed the house of Social Security System president Romulo Neri.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said Daniel Joseph Navarro, from Mexico, Pampanga, is allegedly a member of the Rebolusyunaryong Hukbong Bayan based in Central Luzon under a chapter led by Lenis Salas, alias Ka Lara.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, deputy head of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said Salas’ faction of the breakaway communist group has been engaged in banditry and selling their services as guns for hire.

During a press conference, Elenzano said they filed charges of attempted murder, robbery, serious illegal detention, and car theft against Navarro before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office Thursday afternoon.

Elenzano said they traced Navarro through a receipt they found in a trash bin at a warehouse used by the suspects.

San Diego said Navarro was identified by Neri’s driver-bodyguard Benjamin Santillan as the one who pointed a gun at him and ordered him to drop to the ground during the attack last Oct. 9 at Neri’s house in Barangay Siena.

QCPD Intelligence Division head Superintendent Nestor Abalos said investigation is still ongoing to determine who could be behind the operation allegedly staged by Navarro’s group to attack Neri’s house.

“We’ll be waiting for the issuance of an arrest warrant against him (Navarro’s) and once he’s arrested, we could trace the one who masterminded the strafing,” Abalos said.

According to Elenzano, Ronald Meneses also identified Navarro as one of two persons who carjacked the maroon Hyundai van (XLC-169) he was driving that was later on used as one of the getaway vehicles by the suspects during the strafing.

Meneses was befriended by two of the suspects in Pampanga hours before the strafing incident. The two suspects asked to hitch a ride to Quezon City but when they reached the metropolis, they commandeered the van and held Meneses in a warehouse in Barangay Manresa for 12 hours. He later managed to escape.

Elenzano said when they were checking on the warehouse – that was reportedly rented and paid for by the suspects for P105,000 – they recovered in a trash can a receipt from a clothing store with an entry that indicated that the purchase was made through the loyalty card used by Navarro’s girlfriend, Tamer Dajay.

Elenzano said they traced Dajay in Cavite and she told investigators the receipt was for a clothing given to Navarro on Oct. 7, a few days before the strafing incident.

After policemen found Navarro’s photos from the records of the Land Transportation Office, they approached Santillan and Meneses, who both identified Navarro.

Elenzano said they were also looking into the possible complicity of Dajay, noting that Menesses said that he heard a woman talking in the warehouse when he was still being held there.