CAMP VICENTE LIM, Philippines—Eight policemen are now being investigated for involvement in crimes that led to a string of murders in Los Baños, including that of 19-year-old UP Los Baños agriculture student Ray Bernard Peñaranda.
The eight had allegedly coddled thieves that preyed on students from UPLB, allowing crime gangs to thrive, according to Chief Superintendent James Melad, police chief of Calabarzon.
The eight had been relieved from their posts in Los Baños and would be transferred to posts outside Calabarzon, according to Melad.
The relief, said Melad, would prevent the eight policemen from influencing the outcome of an investigation of a series of crimes that plagued the UPLB community and led to killings.
A case has been filed against the eight at the police Regional Internal Affairs Service, said Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, chief of the Laguna police.
Melad and Cruz refused to release the names of the policemen, but a list obtained by the Inquirer from sources identified them as Insp. Zandro Ortega, SPO1 Allen Ignacio, PO2 Jun Lapitan and Michael Palanca, PO1 Ken Piamonte and Aristeo Nuno and a certain PO1 Tamayo and a certain Geminiano, whose first names were not immediately available.
In Los Baños (population of 100,404), physical injuries, theft and robbery topped the list of crimes followed by rape, murder and homicide.
The killing of Peñaranda resulted in the arrest of suspects Joseph Beltran, Tyronne Kennedy Terbio, and Carl Dactil de Guzman.