Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, Region 4-A police director, identified three of the four slain suspects based on the residence certificates recovered from them as Joel Malvar, Ronald Malvar and Marlon Barzo, all from Bacoor, Cavite, alleged members of the Ampang-Colangco Robbery holdup gang.
Radovan said they have yet to determine if the residence certificates recovered from the suspects bore their real identities. The two other suspects remain unidentified as of presstime.
Reports said at around 9 a.m., the Special Operations Group of the Cavite Police Provincial Office (CPPO) flagged down the suspects’ red Nissan Urban van along the Aguinaldo Highway, Barangay Anabu 2, Imus, after noticing the absence of a plate number.
Instead of stopping, the suspects opened fire at the police operatives figuring in a few minutes gun battle that resulted to the death of the suspects.
In a phone interview, Senior Superintendent Fidel Posadas, newly installed Cavite police director, said the four suspects belong to the Ampang group engaged in bank robberies and holdup activities operating in Cavite and nearby Calabarzon areas.
Posadas said the suspects were all dead-on-the-spot when they shot it out with the operatives of the Cavite Special Operations Group at around 9 a.m. yesterday.
"We recovered from the suspects inside their van several guns, documents containing names of their target, sketches and notes," Posadas said.
Posadas said two other members of the group managed to escape and are now the subject of massive manhunt.
Police said that the Ampang-Colangco group, which specializes in bank robberies, payroll and pawnshop heists as well as carnapping, has been the subject of regional police operations since they first surfaced several years back. – With Ed Amoroso