2 Laguna cops in hiding; Cebu cop held for kidnapping, slay

CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna—Two police officers in Laguna have gone into hiding and a higher ranking officer is in custody after charges have been filed against them for the kidnapping and murder of a Chinese-Filipino businesswoman whose body was found in a septic tank in an abandoned warehouse in Laguna on Feb. 23.

Arrested suspect Reginel Santiago, a former policeman, identified Supt. Rommel Miranda as the mastermind in the kidnapping and murder of Lea Angeles Ng in Quezon City on Jan. 20.

Santiago, in a sworn statement, a copy of which was furnished the Inquirer by a police source, named the two other suspects as PO1 Otelio Santos Jr. and PO1 Jifford Signap, both assigned to the San Pedro, Laguna, police station.

Santiago claimed that Miranda, who was moonlighting as a debt collector for Ng’s lending business, allegedly killed the businesswoman following a dispute involving a P13-million collection that the police officer had refused to turn over to Ng.

Santiago claimed he and the two other policemen helped Miranda dispose of Ng’s body.

Miranda, currently the chief of the communications and electronic division of the Philippine National Police in Central Visayas based in Cebu City, is now in the custody of his immediate superior, according to PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz in a phone interview on Monday.

The two San Pedro policemen have gone on absence without leave and are now considered as fugitives.

Laguna police director Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz, reached by phone on Monday, said Santos and Signap had failed to report for duty since last week.

“They were officially relieved and would be facing criminal charges when arrested,” the Laguna police director said.

The PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) based in Camp Crame filed kidnapping for ransom with homicide charges against the three police officers and Santiago at the Department of Justice last Friday while manhunt operations were ongoing for the fugitive policemen, the Laguna police director said.

Santiago was arrested by members of the PNP-AKG and Laguna police at an off-track betting station in San Pedro last Wednesday. He confessed to his involvement in the crime and led authorities to an abandoned warehouse in Barangay San Vicente where policemen found Ng’s body in an empty septic tank that the suspects had sealed with cement.

According to Santiago, Miranda gave them instructions to meet him near a coffee shop at the Corinthian Village in Quezon City on Jan. 20. When they arrived, Santiago said they found an unconscious Ng who was lying in the driver’s seat, while Miranda was in the passenger seat of the victim’s SUV.

Santiago said he and Signap boarded the SUV, with Signap on the wheel, while Santos followed them on board another car. They dropped off Miranda somewhere on C-5 Road in Taguig City and proceeded to San Pedro to dispose of the body of Ng who, Santiago claimed, “was dead by then.”

They then went to Carmona, Cavite, and abandoned Ng’s vehicle in a mall parking area.

According to police reports, Ng’s husband was a Chinese businessman and an executive officer of the Cebu-based Metro Gaisano mall chain.