No. 2 most wanted in Mimaropa arrested in Quezon

LUCENA CITY – The second most wanted criminal in the Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) region was arrested by police in Lucena City on Saturday, police said Sunday.

Supt. Arturo Brual Jr., Lucena police chief, said combined police forces from Quezon, Marinduque and the Police Regional Office 4 armed with three arrest warrants swooped down on the house of Arnaldo Jardiniano, 46, alias “Etong” in Sitio (sub-village) Maligaya in Barangay Gulang-Gulang around 11:30 a.m.

“He was surprised when he realized that the ambulant vendors offering him household stuff on installment were undercover policemen,” Brual said in a phone interview on Sunday.

Jardiniano is number two on the list of most wanted persons in Mimaropa, number two among “high value targets” on the regional drug watch list, and also number 10 on the Marinduque police most wanted list.

In August 2015, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and local police arrested Jardiniano in a buy-bust operation in Barangay San Miguel in Boac, Marinduque, where the suspect was a councilman.

Brual said he was not sure why the suspect was released from his previous arrest.

“I know him very well because he was my classmate in Marinduque State College. That’s why when I arrested him I just told him ‘Classmate, I’m sorry, it’s just work’,” said Brual.

Brual said the suspect was from a prominent family in Boac.

“I was saddened when I saw his warrants of arrests. He dropped out (of college) because of illegal drugs,” he said of Jardiniano, who is now detained at the city police jail. CBB/rga