2 arrested for former Marine’s slay

MANILA, Philippines - A few hours after a Marine sergeant was killed in Quezon City Sunday night, three suspects were arrested in two separate operations by the police.

Fernando Sampaga and Jimboy Rondina, accosted at a Timog Avenue checkpoint for not wearing helmets while riding a motorcycle, were found to have a .38 caliber revolver and a .45 caliber pistol when police officers frisked them.

Cabbie Ariel Sampaga was arrested by members of the Highway Patrol Group along Roosevelt Avenue after an alarm was sent out for his taxi (UVY-897). Witnesses to the killing of Sergeant Christopher Servano, who was not in active service, identified Sampaga’s taxi as the getaway vehicle.

Quezon City Police District director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano said the three men were arrested less then three hours after Servano was shot twice in the head in Barangay Manresa at around 8 p.m. Sunday.

Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), said Servano had been at odds with the Sampagas even before the killing.

Inspector Elmer Monsalve, who heads the QCPD-CIDU’s homicide investigation section, said they recovered from Ariel Sampaga a cellular phone that supposedly stated a plan to kill the victim by provoking him.

On the night of the killing, the Sampagas – along with Dante and Benjie Sampaga and two other unidentified men – were drinking with Rondina when Servano reportedly told them to keep the noise down. It was then that the victim was shot, Monsalve said.