Suspects in Cainta robbery-slay are active cops

The four motorcycle-riding men, who shot dead last Sept. 14 a one-year-old girl during a robbery in Cainta, Rizal, are active policemen, also tagged in a series of payroll and other big-time robberies in eastern Metro Manila.

Elements of the Cainta police, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Eastern Police District (EPD) are now hot on the trail of the rogue cops who were positively identified by witnesses as the killers of Erica Charlene Guevarra.

"Two of them are still reporting for work, while the two others have gone into hiding," said a police official, who refused to identify them so as not to jeopardize their follow-up operations.

Director Vidal Querol, chief of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO), confirmed to The STAR yesterday that the suspects in the Cainta robbery-killing are EPD policemen.

"We will throw the book at them," he said. "They have no business staying a minute longer in the police service."

Querol directed Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, EPD director, to dig deeper into the illegal activities of the policemen linked to Guevarra’s killing.

The girl was seated on the lap of his mother, Rosanna, in the front seat of their Toyota Revo when the robbers opened fire at them.

Erica was hit in the head and died while being rushed to the hospital, while her father, Erick, 41, sustained a bullet wound in the leg.

The Guevarras had just withdrawn P90,000 from a bank in Marikina City and were on their way home to UE Village in Barangay San Isidro in Cainta town when the incident happened.

Witnesses had a clear look at the suspects’ faces since they were not wearing helmets.

"Ang tapang talaga nila. Hindi man lamang itinago ang mga mukha," a police official said of the suspects.

Cainta policemen found four empty shells from caliber .45 automatic pistols in the crime scene.

Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, Cainta police chief, however, clamped down when asked if the suspects are policemen.

"We are still in the process of investigating the girl’s killing. I cannot reveal the progress of our probe as (it is) not yet for publication," he said.

Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, director of the Philippine National Police crime laboratory, said the empty shells found in the scene were fired from two caliber .45 pistols.

According to Belen, cross-matching of the empty shells with other ballistic specimens showed that the same caliber .45 pistols were used in the robbery-holdup involving a certain Danilo Hernandez, also in Cainta town, last Jan. 19.

He added that the same guns were also used in the fatal shooting of businessman Edward Young, 24, and his driver, Glen Magbanua, 47, in Marikina City last Aug. 15. Young’s wife, Sarah, 21, survived the attack.

Belen said one of the handguns was also used in the P300,000 payroll robbery involving Japanese businessman Kenichi Takahashi in Barangay Kapitolyo in Pasig City last June 15. Takahashi was wounded in the incident.

Because of the policemen’s alleged involvement in Guevarra’s killing, Querol ordered his five police directors to intensify their counter-intelligence operations to identify rogue policemen in their ranks and initiate measures to kick them out of the police service.

"The killing of the innocent child served as an eye-opener for us to renew our drive against rogue cops," he said.