Ex-cop in kidnap-slay killed in shootout

MANILA, Philippines - A former policeman, listed among the most wanted kidnap suspects in the country, was killed in an encounter with police officers yesterday morning.

Reniel Abogado, 42, had a P300,000 bounty on his head for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a businessman and his driver in 2008, said Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Richard Albano.

According to Albano, Abogado was driving a stolen motorcycle when he was flagged down by policemen.

Abogado held the rank of Police Officer 1 before he went AWOL (absent without official leave) from the National Capital Region Police Office after being tagged in the kidnap-slay case, he said.

‘Hot’ ride

Superintendent Dennis de Leon, commander of QCPD Station 5, said the Yamaha Mio that Abogado was driving at the time of the encounter was identified by owner Arnel Roldan as the same one stolen from him in Fairview at past 3 a.m. yesterday.

Roldan said he was approached by two motorcycle-riding men in helmets who threatened to kill him if he did not give up the motorcycle.

A team led by Senior Inspector Rolando Lorenzo Jr., head of the QCPD’s anti-car theft unit, spotted the motorcycle near Violago Subdivision with its plates no longer attached.

Lorenzo noted that after an alarm was raised on the stolen motorcycle, they set up a “chokepoint” at the boundary of Rizal and Quezon City.

However, instead of heeding the call of the policemen, the suspect made a U-turn until he was cornered along Payatas Road. Lorenzo said Abogado started shooting, prompting policemen to retaliate.

Albano said the suspect was armed with a .45 caliber pistol.

Trial still on

Of the eight persons being tried for the kidnapping and murder of Demosthenes Cañete, 67, a retired pilot; and his driver, Allan Garay, 26, in June 2008, only Abogado was still at large.

His co-accused, Mariano de Leon, alias Spider, 49, was arrested in Southern Leyte in 2010. De Leon carried a bounty of P300,000.

Six other suspects are currently detained without bail. They are former Dasmariñas, Cavite vice mayor Victor Carungcong; couple Chief Inspectors Exequiel Cautiver and Penelope Cautiver; Police Officer 1 Rick Selga; Alejandrito Entolizo Jr.; and Gary Pateo.

Abogado used to be with the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF).

Exequiel Cautiver, who graduated from the Philippine National Police Academy in 1996, was a training director of the SAF School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Investigators said he identified Carungcong as the mastermind.

Entolizo was a village watchman in Makati City while Pateo was a pedicab driver, also in Makati.

According to earlier reports, the suspects kidnapped the two victims and demanded a P20-million ransom from the family of Cañete, who was later found dead.