Metro Briefs: Sept. 19, 2018

2 robbery suspects killed in shootouts with QC cops

Two suspected robbers, one of them still unidentified, were shot dead separately by Quezon City policemen on Monday after they allegedly resisted arrest.

A report to Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr., Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, said the first suspect was killed around 3 a.m. on Kalye Onse at  Barangay Bagong Pag-asa.

Members of the QCPD’s Special Operations Unit were conducting an “anticriminality” operation when they spotted two members of a robbery group.

One of the suspects, later identified as 18-year-old Luis Aligado, reportedly drew a gun and fired at the policemen who shot him.

Aligado was taken to East Avenue Medical Center where he was declared dead on arrival. His supposed cohort, only known as “Bordek,” escaped.

Around 30 minutes later, another theft suspect was killed in an alleged shootout.

Policemen responding to a call about a supposed robbery on A. Bonifacio Avenue at Barangay Paang Bundok saw the still unidentified man who matched the suspect’s description on Iba Street.

The slain man was described as of medium build, with fair complexion and had an image of Jesus Christ tattooed on his right shoulder.

Recovered from him were a .38-caliber revolver, a rusty knife and three sachets of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth). —Jhesset O. Enano and Cedrix Perez

Trader tagged in enforcer’s mauling to be moved to jail

The businessman who gained notoriety after he, his live-in partner and bodyguard ganged up on a traffic enforcer who had flagged his vehicle for ignoring a red light, has been ordered committed to jail.

In his order dated Sept. 13, Judge Josefino Subia of the Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 138 ordered the transfer of Arnold Padilla and his bodyguard, Alfie Ortiz, to the Makati City Jail after finding probable cause against them.

The two are currently being held in the detention cell of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

Padilla and Ortiz were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives after NCRPO operatives seized unlicensed high-powered guns and two grenades during a raid on Padilla’s house at Magallanes Village on Aug. 24.

Padilla claimed the explosives were planted by the police and those who had “personal grudges” against him.

The guns, on the other hand, had proper licenses and were issued to his bodyguards.

Padilla’s license to own and possess a firearm was revoked in April after he submitted fake drug test results in 2015. —Dexter Cabalza