Arrested ex-cop linked to Pasig shabu tiangge

MANILA, Philippines - A former policeman, arrested last Monday along with seven alleged members of a robbery gang, was earlier identified as one of 21 lawmen who reportedly protected the business of convicted shabu tiangge (flea market) operator Amin Imam Boratong, a police official said yesterday.

A government witness, Samer Palao, tagged ex-Senior Police Officer 1 Rolando Baltazar as one of 21 policemen in Pasig City who are reportedly on the payroll of Boratong, said Senior Inspector Dennis David, deputy chief of the District Special Operations Unit of the Eastern Police District (EPD).

However, Baltazar was not dismissed from the police service because of his alleged link to Boratong but due to his arrest in a drug bust in 2007, David said.

The shabu tiangge at Mapayapa Compound in Barangay Sto. Tomas was raided by government agents in 2006 and at least 150 people were arrested and charged in court, including Boratong and his second wife, Sheryl Molera.

Boratong and Molera are now serving life terms in separate prisons.

No proof

The National Capital Region Police Office created a fact-finding committee to investigate Palao’s allegations that 21 Pasig policemen are in the payroll of Boratong. However, the NCRPO found no evidence to substantiate Palao’s testimony, prompting the dismissal of the charges against the 21 policemen.

The drug charge against Baltazar was dismissed in 2010 and he is asking to be reinstated in the police force, David said.

Baltazar, along with his live-in partner, Rhoda Marcellano; her brothers, Rhandy and Roderick and Jessie Malicdem; Edgar Giangan; Enrico Espinosa and Myrna Malauan were arrested at a house on Col. Licsi street in Barangay Caniogan last Monday by EPD operatives.

The police officers confiscated shabu with a street value of P150,000; a hand grenade; a bolt cutter; four bullets; replicas for a .45 caliber pistol and M-16 Armalite rifle; a crow bar; a .38 caliber revolver and assorted drug paraphernalia from the suspects.

‘Friendly’ gang

EPD director Chief Superintendent Abelardo Villacorta said Rhandy established the gang in 1999 and they have been operating not only in Pasig City but other parts of Metro Manila for the past 15 years.

Villacorta said the gang would befriend neighbors and village security personnel and strikes between noon and 5 p.m. while the house owners are at work.

The members of the gang bind their victims’ hands with masking tape before looting the house, the EPD director said.

Rhandy, who was convicted for robbery, is facing nine other charges for robbery, snatching, resistance and disobedience to an agent of a person in authority and illegal possession of picklocks and other tools for robbery, David said.

His brother Roderick is facing six robbery cases; Giangan and Malicdem, four robbery cases each; sister Rhoda, a case involving illegal drugs; and Baltazar, homicide, robbery and estafa.

According to David, they are coordinating with various courts prior to the filing of appropriate charges against Baltazar and the other suspects.