4 'Salisi Gang' members fall

MANILA, Philippines - Four women, suspected to be members of a “Salisi Gang,” were arrested in Pasig City’s business district Thursday after allegedly stealing a motorist’s shoulder bag.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel urged the victims of Joan Goho, 32; Jean Pamalias, 35; Melania Masadlak, 54, and Nora Ascaño, 42, to file formal complaints against them so “it would be hard for them to post bail and return to their nefarious activities.”

Senior Inspector Oscar Mansibang, chief of the EPD’s criminal investigation unit, said Maria Veronica Kalaw, 41, a retired chemist, is the fourth person to report being victimized by the gang in Pasig’s business district over the past few months.

Kalaw said she was behind the wheel of her green Isuzu Fuego in front of the Tycoon Center on Pearl Drive at around 11:30 a.m. Thursday when a man knocked on her door and told her a key was left in the keyhole of her car’s trunk.

Thinking the key had been left by their helper, Kalaw rushed out of the vehicle to check. She told The STAR that she found a set of keys, but they were not hers and were apparently “planted.”

Laurel said another member of the gang spread out an umbrella, apparently to block Kalaw’s view of the front portion of her vehicle. When she went back to her car, Kalaw said she saw Pamalias take her shoulder bag from the front passenger seat and pass it to Goho and Masadlak. The three women, along with a male companion, boarded a taxi and escaped.

“I was caught by surprise and fear and I was not able to jot down the plate number of the fleeing taxicab,” Kalaw told Mansibang.

Caught by cabbie

Mansibang said the four suspects were talking in Cebuano about their latest caper. Unknown to them, the unidentified taxi driver was also a Cebuano. Upon seeing traffic enforcers Sheren Punay and Randy Lopez of the Ortigas Center Association Inc. at their post, the taxi driver stepped on the brakes and had Pamalias, Masadlak and Goho arrested. Their male companion escaped.

Kalaw was reporting the incident to Mansibang when she was told that three female members of the gang were arrested several minutes earlier. She identified Pamalias, Masadlak and Goho as the ones who stole her shoulder bag.

Kalaw pleaded with the three suspects, all residents of Baclaran in Pasay City, to return her shoulder bag.

Several hours later, Ascaño went to Mansibang’s office, carrying Kalaw’s shoulder bag. It contained a BlackBerry cell phone worth P12,000; a BlackBerry playbook tablet, P24,000; a YSL wallet, P32,000; and P7,500 as well as assorted bank cards and identification cards.

Ascaño denied being a member of the gang, claiming she was only asked to bring the bag to the EPD headquarters. Mansibang, who did not buy her story, arrested her.

Laurel said details of the suspects’ modus operandi are being circulated on the social networking site Facebook, with some minor deviations.

“Others would claim that there’s a fire or dent at the back of your vehicle. We received a big number of complaints against them and it is high time to put a stop to these type of rackets,” said Laurel, adding that they need the help of the public to send “them to jail for good.”