Manhunt on for teen thrill killers

Manila, Philippines - Quezon City policemen are tracking a group of at least 10 teenagers believed to have killed two persons in less than a week, an official said yesterday.

Two days after gatecrashing a wedding reception and killing the groom’s father in Barangay Payatas, the same group is said to have stabbed dead a drunken helper in the same village Sunday night.

Superintendent Ronnie Montejo, commander of the Quezon City Police District Station 6, said the teenagers belong to the “Banal Group.” He said a witness has come forward and identified the purported leader of the group, but his name cannot be released because he is a minor.

The police official said the group’s members, aged 15 to 17, are sowing terror in the community, believing they are “untouchable.”

Under the juvenile justice law, children below 15 years old are exempt from criminal charges while offenders aged 15 to 18 may only be criminally charged if it is proven they committed the crime with discernment. The law also provides children caught committing crimes will be turned over to social workers.

“There are a lot of witnesses but they are really afraid of this group,” Montejo said in an interview.

He said the group was identified to be behind the robbery at a wedding reception before dawn Friday. The groom’s father, Reynaldo Andres Sr., fought back when one of the teenagers grabbed the bride and took her cell phone. He was shot dead, and the robbers fled with the cell phone as their only loot.

Montejo said that based on witnesses’ accounts, the same group killed Remos Bantiling, 22, Sunday night. Apart from the two murders, the police official said the teenagers are reportedly behind many violent incidents in Barangay Payatas.

Montejo said residents of the barangay told police the teenagers use illegal drugs and are armed with knives, handguns, and improvised shotguns.

Montejo said they are working on identifying and catching the members of the group to stop the violent incidents in Barangay Payatas.

Police Officer 3 Modestino Juanson said at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Bantiling had been drinking when he happened to pass by a group of teenagers, who ganged up on him and stabbed him in the chest.

Bantiling managed to get away and reach the house of his uncle, Elmer Dioleste. Awakened by frantic knocks on his door, Dioleste opened it and was surprised to see his nephew and his blood-soaked shirt.

“I was stabbed by some youths,” Bantiling told his uncle in Filipino before collapsing on the floor.

He was brought to the Fairview General Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.