Now, get the cruel mastermind of Judge Gingoyon’s murder!

Swift police work got six suspects in the heartless assassination of Judge Henrick Gingoyon in Bacoor, Cavite. One of them was the alleged paymaster who forked over the fee of P150,000 to the "murder for hire" group which carried out the killing.

I met with Philippine National Police Director General Arturo C. Lomibao yesterday morning, and he confirmed that the PNP found the money had been delivered by the suspect, Danny Sulaiman alias Sahid Adam Sulaiman, and another Muslim. Why were the paymasters Muslims – and who was the mastermind who had given the order? That’s still not been revealed.

Also in custody – and inevitably presented to media yesterday afternoon – were Rodolfo Cuer Jr., the hitman who allegedly shot the judge while he was walking home from a nearby gym last December 31. The killer and his partner had struck while pursuing their victim, both riding tandem on a blue motorcycle – a favorite modus operandi of assassins.

Also in detention were Efren Samonte, Marka Datas alias Mac-Mac, Felimon Rabino, and Rudy Baclor, the alleged maintainer of the group’s safehouse. One of them, the "lookout" had actually gone to the gym where the Pasay RTC Judge had been working out to eyeball the target and make sure of his identity.

What a cold-blooded bunch! Sometimes I wish we were more barbaric, and like the ancient Chinese imposed methods of execution like "death by a thousand cuts", but under the wishy-washy GMA policy this is wishful thinking. La Presidenta doesn’t want, apparently, any further "executions" of death convicts, even if Death Row is reportedly congested with more than 1,000 inmates awaiting their turn in the lethal gas chamber, almost confident that they’ll get a GMA reprieve or stay of execution.

I don’t know why her critics scoff at her as "Ate Glue", for glue is strong and sticks with consistency. "Ate Marshmallow," at times, may be more pertinent a description.

Going back to the splendid work done for a change by our police, in collaboration with a team from the National Bureau of Investigation, which led to the immediate culprits, being quickly identified and arrested, I can only say kudos to them.

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Later, I spoke to Cavite Provincial Director, Police Senior Supt. Benjardi Hembrador Mantele, who had led Special Investigation Task Group Gingoyon, and he said they were going after the "brains" of the case. He also vowed to track down the rest of Murder, Incorporated. Many such gangs operate, unfortunately, in Cavite and Batangas – and certain of their members are themselves either policemen or police "assets."

The latter seems to be the case in another case being investigated by PSSupt. Mantele and his men: the hijack of high-tech MAXIM microchips from a FEDEX truck in Dasmariñas, Cavite, last December 17.

The armed hijackers personally headed by a notorious Hijack King and Super-Fence, wellknown in the Calabarzon and southern Tagalog povinces, grabbed P30.5 million worth of microchips. The cargo, which had been offloaded from the hijacked FEDEX truck in Amadeo, Cavite, still hasn’t been recovered – but those MAXIM microchips, owing to the publicity, may have become too hot to handle (or even sell via the internet, as the hijackers and fencers often do) since certain police "assets" have been sending word that they might "rescue" the items for a "reward" of US$50,000.

I think they ought to use the word, "ransom." What a disgraceful situation.

The purloined shipment of microchips had been on their way to the airport to be shipped by FEDEX to buyers all over the world who had already "bought" them. Their loss means that factories in several countries might have had to shut down certain operating lines since the chips are necessary for what they are manufacturing. This is the deleterious domino effect caused by the greedy hijackers in Cavite.

Col. Mantele said the ringleader would soon be arrested. And the stuff "recovered"? That’s the question, too. This hijack-cum-fence practitioner is a 33-year old punk who’s waxed wealthy on his racket – while evading the law. He's reputedly been swaggering around with police bodyguards and waving a genuine-looking CIDG Police I.D. among other law enforcement agency’s identification cards.

When outlaws have too many cop connections, as well as clout with ranking officials both in their province and elsewhere, it’s time for a really tough law enforcement crackdown. This can be accomplished only by lawmen who don’t give a damn for political repercussions or interference from their own fellow police officers.

This Cavite-based gang, which hit shipments from Nestle, Nivea, and other multinationals in its rampage all over southern Tagalog, however, must be crushed once and for all. If GMA and her trusted PNP gangbusters do that, existing locators and manufacturers in the industrial parks will expand their presence, and investments will begin flowing in.

It’s not as simple as that, of course. But it’s a sine qua non. A secure and safe environment is essential to a business – and even more to our frightened citizens.

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So many are vying for the post of NBI Director that it’s time the President started examining not only the proffered "credentials" of the applicants, but their lifestyles and spending habits. One of the RTC judges lusting after the position, aside from being a habitue of niteclubs, even maintains a Yacht in Subic! Waw. Will this yacht someday be re-labelled "The Director’s Floating Fortress"?

In any event, perhaps GMA can take a second look at the experienced, longtime NBI man who’s now Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau. Acting NBI OIC Nestor M. Mantaring was the late Director Reynaldo "Wyck" Wycoco’s deputy, and started his stint in the NBI in 1968, when he joined the Bureau as a casual employee.

As a working student, he worked his way to his degree in Law (LLB 1972) from the Far Eastern University – the same FEU law college that Supreme Court Chief Justice Art Panganiban attended. He attained the rank of Police Sergeant in 1970, then graduated from FEU in 1971 and passed the Bar in 1973. He was a multi-awarded NBI employee, rising from the ranks to Deputy Director for Comptroller Services in 2001; Deputy Director for Administrative Services in 2002; Deputy Director for Special Investigation Services in 2003. Finally, in December 2004, or a year ago, he was promoted to Assistant Director. (He hails from Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro).

What Mantaring has going for him is his record as an NBI agent in the field, for which he has received commendations from the late NBI Director Santiago Y. Toledo; Director Epimaco A. Velasco; Director, now Senator Alfredo Lim; the late Director Jolly Bugarin; and even from former Director (Col.) Mariano Santiago of the Bureau of Land Transportation.

Among his varied achievements have been his "bust" of a shabu laboratory in Angeles City and the arrest of three Chinese "chemists"; the arrest of a rapist-murderer of two young girls, aged six and eight (each of the victims stabbed to death 15 times after being ravished); the rescue of a kidnap victim (Antonio Zuzuregui) in 1991, with the arrest of the kidnappers and the recovery of part of the P3.5 million ransom payment; the leadership of an investigation which resulted in the rescue of the kidnap victim (Benito Tan) without payment of the ransom demanded and the arrest of the kidnappers; the rescue of another victim (Rosario Cruz) in 1991 and the arrest of her two armed abductors; the recovery of the MV Kiriam Ace, a seajacked vessel of 118.63 tonnage in the Sulu Sea, in September 1991, owned by the Japanese "Marine Development Corporation"; the busting of a syndicate whose racket entailed the stealing, production and sale of fake international credit cards, and the arrest of German national Sigi Wegener (wanted by German authorities in other cases back home in Germany); a crackdown on and dismantling of a counterfeiting syndicate engaged in the "printing" and distribution of fake peso and US dollar bills; the entrapment and arrest of a crooked Quezon City Fiscal, who, caught red-handed, was convicted and dismissed from government service; even an instance in which Mantaring received a commendation from the Pinkerton Consulting Agency (remember the famous Pinkertons who helped well – tame the American West?) for successful operations to curb violations of intellectual Property Rights.

Not to sing him hosannas of praise, but the above are some of the real-time achievements of veteran NBI agent Mantaring. He might not fit the "glamor" mode of an ex-general, but the rank-and-file, I’m told, respect him. Indeed, I don’t know Mantaring personally at all, but his reputation precedes him.

As I said earlier, possibly he merits a second look.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . Why all the fuss over the over-touted meeting" of ex-President Fidel V. Ramos, Senate President Frank Drilon and former Senator Tito Sotto, the late Opposition challenger FPJ’s campaign manager? So they met. If this were "Alice in Wonderland," this so-called meeting might have been described as the Mad Hatters’ Tea Party. It’s "mad" of us in the media, if you ask me, to have attached so much importance to this non-happening. Shucks. Why did the Palace even have to bleat that FVR was still for GMA? So what? She’s not Alice, I guess, but "Gloria in Wonderland." Alas, always seeming to wonder who’s for her and who’s not. The President must be firm, deciding matters and appointing officials based on character, issues and Realpolitik, not forever consulting that Magic Mirror on the Wall, plaintively asking whether she’s still the "fairest one of all." Guess I got my fairy tales mixed up a bit, but you get my drift.