GONE ROGUE Metro top cop, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar (center), confronts the suspects after their arrest. —SPD PHOTO
Four Taguig City policemen who allegedly moonlighted as kidnappers faced off with their colleagues on Tuesday morning, leaving one of the suspects dead.
Killed in the entrapment operation which led to a shootout was PO1 Gererdo Ancheta while his accomplices—fellow rookie Police Officers 1 Bryan Amir Bajoof and Paolo Ocampo—and their leader, PO2 Joey Maru, gave themselves up.
The four were members of the Taguig Police Community Precinct 1 (PCP 1) in Western Bicutan, according to Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, Southern Police District (SPD) director.
Cops vs cops
Senior Supt. Alexander Santos, Taguig police chief, said no one knew their targets were policemen until the shootout was over. It was only when the suspects surrendered that the operatives realized they were also policemen.
He added that the group targeted drug suspects, raiding their houses and then extorting money from the victims in exchange for their release.
A police report said the four suspects raided the house of Rona and her boyfriend, Samuel (names changed for their protection), at Barangay New Lower Bicutan around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
After the policemen took their P7,000 in cash, two gold watches and wallets, the victims were brought to Arca South (formerly FTI compound) where they were held captive while the suspects demanded P50,000 from Rona’s relatives.
But even after a relative paid the group P20,000, they wanted more so they set Rona free so that she could produce the remaining P30,000 ransom.
Samuel, on the other hand, remained in their custody to ensure Rona’s return.
Rona, however, went to the Taguig police which set up an entrapment operation at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday on Tandem Street at Barangay Western Bicutan.
Authorities rescued Samuel and recovered from the suspects P10,600 in cash, a gold watch, three cell phones, several firearms, illegal drug paraphernalia and two sachets of “shabu” (crystal meth).
Relief en masse
Following the incident, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, National Capital Region Police Office director, ordered the relief of all 39 personnel of Taguig PCP 1, including the commander, Senior Insp. Joel Villapaña.
They were reassigned to the Regional Headquarters Support Group at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, while an investigation was ongoing to determine if they were also involved in other criminal activities.
Apolinario said their investigation showed that the same group raided the house of Moreen del Castillo at Barangay New Lower Bicutan on Monday night and took P50,000 in cash from her.
In a statement, Apolinario assured the public that there were just a few “misguided personnel… but we must deal with them to protect the many dedicated policemen.”
Two weeks ago, four Muntinlupa antidrug policemen were arrested for abducting a woman and her 7-year-old son on trumped-up drug charges.