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MANILA, Philippines — A taxi driver tagged in the disappearance and death of two persons, including a 79-year-old grandmother, has been arrested by operatives from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).
QCPD chief Police Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said that Mark Anthony Cosio, 41, was initially arrested on Friday, February 3 for illegal possession of explosives but later admitted his role in the disappearance of Edilberta Gomez, 79, who was found dead in Tanay, Rizal, and Maria Cristina Capistano, 40, whose remains were retrieved by authorities in Mexico, Pampanga.
“We have arrested a taxi driver and his cohorts who are, [at] random, taking passengers to rob and kill them,” Torre said in a news conference at Camp Karingal on Monday.
Cosio, according to Torre, “out of conscience, broke down and confessed” while in custody that he and his three accomplices were behind the disappearance of Gomez.
It was Cosio who led authorities to the body of Gomez, which was found along Marilaque road on Saturday, February 11–nearly a month since she supposedly rode the suspect’s cab to go on a pilgrimage in Manaoag Church, Pangasinan.
Torre identified Cosio’s cohorts as Rolando Picana–still at-large–and brothers Keith and Jimbo Robosa, who are already under the custody of the police for an alleged robbery in a gasoline station along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.
Torre added that Cosio and the Robosa brothers are likewise linked to the disappearance of Capistrano, whose remains were dumped in Barangay Laug and retrieved on Sunday, January 29.
A certain John Paul, who was also allegedly involved in Capistrano’s brutal murder, remains on the loose, he added.
The suspects’ motive, according to Torre, is seen to solely be for money. But he said that they are not ruling out the possibility of a bigger criminal syndicate behind the disappearances.
Cosio’s records in the QCPD Investigation and Detection Unit showed that he was also involved in gun running, drug pushing, kidnapping and selling explosives.