P’sinan pol faces probe for coddling KFR suspect

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Police are set to investigate a politician for allegedly coddling an arrested kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicate member in Urbiztondo town last Sunday.

This was upon the directive of Gov. Amado Espino Jr. who said that there should be no sacred cows in the drive against criminality.

Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez, provincial police director, bared the governor’s order in a press conference yesterday where he presented the arrested suspect, Ronald Quitaleg Pidlaoan, 36, alias Buddha.

Pidlaoan, who is believed to have been used as gun-for-hire by certain influential people, was nabbed by a composite police team last Sunday in Barangay Gueteb, Urbiztondo town, Nerez said.

He said they will invite “an elected official” to shed light on allegations that he coddled Pidlaoan.

“I talked to the governor this morning and he said there should be no scared cows,” he said, giving a hint that the politician hails from the second congressional district.

“This should also serve as a strong warning to other coddlers of criminals,” he said.

He said they are 100 percent sure that Pidlaoan, who had an arrest warrant for kidnapping for ransom from the municipal trial court in Rosales town, belonged to the Quitaleg KFR gang that seized a female trader in Rosales and a rich Chinese businessman in Dagupan City sometime in 2002.

Nerez used to work at the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response that handled the two kidnapping cases.

He said Pidlaoan’s arrest was in response to Espino’s order during his State of the Province Address for the police to go after guns-for-hire and those coddling or using them.

Pidlaoan’s companion, a certain Danny Aquino, is still being hunted down.

The leaders of the Quitaleg KFR gang, Joselito and Ramil Quitaleg, have been neutralized in Tarlac, Nerez said. Pidlaoan denied that the Quitalegs are his relatives.

The gang’s remnants are believed to have shifted to gun-for-hire not only in Pangasinan but also in neighboring provinces, Nerez said, adding though that they could go back to their old criminal ways.

Police said Pidlaoan and his cohorts had gone into hiding but returned to their criminal activities before the 2007 elections.

Nerez said the Quitaleg KFR gang possibly has links with the Bocala KFR syndicate because of their vast operations in Northern, Central and Southern Luzon.

He added that their ransom demands amounting to up to P50 million show they are big-time KFR syndicates.

Nerez assured Pangasinenses of more peace in the province following the arrest of Pidlaoan and the neutralization a few months ago of five other suspected guns-for-hire in the cities of Dagupan and Urdaneta and the towns of Manaoag, Villasis and Malasiqui.

“We can see here that crime does not pay. But we would like to stress that peace and order is everybody’s concern. Let’s help one another,” he said.