Criminal gang members in Bicol fall after death of leader

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay, Philippines  — After the death in January of their leader, members of the Concepcion criminal group operating in Bicol were arrested by police in a series of follow-up operations.

The police crackdown on the remaining members of the group came after its leader and founder Gilbert Concepcion was killed in a shootout on Jan. 24 in Parañaque City.

The Concepcion criminal gang was involved in extortion, robbery, gun running, gun-for-hire, and extrajudicial execution of uniformed personnel, civilians, and government officials in Albay and Camarines Sur provinces.

Brigadier General Andre Dizon, chief of the Bicol Police Regional Office, said in an interview on Monday, Feb. 5, that one of the members, known by the alias “Ger,” was apprehended on Saturday, Feb. 3, for violation of the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act. Ger was arrested in Cavite City by virtue of a warrant of arrest.

Two members of the gang identified only as “Jay” and “Den-Den,” surrendered last week to the police in Libon, Albay, the town where the Concepcion criminal gang was based, Dizon said.

Dizon urged the remaining members to come out in the open and assured them of full assistance and support from the government.

Concepcion was a former New People’s Army rebel who later applied to become a soldier but was dismissed from service after he went on absence without official leave in 2007.

The police said he was listed as the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s most wanted person in Bicol, with a bounty of P420,000.

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Dizon said in an earlier interview that Concepcion started by adopting a ‘Robin Hood’ lifestyle, giving whatever he stole to the poor. But he changed when he became powerful and in 2012, founded the gang.

The Concepcion criminal group is responsible for the killing of Malinao town mayoral candidate Nelson Morales in September 2012, according to Lieutenant Colonel Maria Luisa Calubaquib, Bicol police spokesperson, in a phone interview on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

The gang was also behind the killings of a village chief and barangay councilors in Libon before the 2022 elections; kidnapping with murder incidents; rape; murder of soldiers and policemen; and various charges of assault in Bicol.