Raps filed vs 3 Bulacan cops in P30-M home robbery

BALAGTAS, BULACAN, Philippines — A complaint for robbery was filed in the provincial prosecutor’s office in Malolos on Friday against three police officers who allegedly carted away cash and other valuables worth more than P30 million from a businessman’s house here.

Police Lt. Col. Satur Ediong, officer-in-charge of the Bulacan Provincial Police Office, identified the respondents as Police Staff Sgt. Anthony Ancheta, 48, assigned at the Malolos police; Police Maj. Armando Reyes of the Hagonoy municipal police station; and Police Senior Master Sgt. Ronnie Galion, 43, from the Sta. Maria municipal police station.

READ: PNP: 3 out of 7 suspects in Bulacan robbery are active police officers

Dragnet operation

Police units from Balagtas town and the provincial command arrested the three in an operation around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, some 12 hours after they allegedly ransacked the house of Emerson Magbitang, 35, inside a subdivision in Barangay Borol II.

Magbitang is engaged in the trucking business and is also a pharmaceutical supplier, according to the police.

Police Maj. Norweda Usman, Bulacan police information officer, said the three officers were arrested following a dragnet operation launched by different police units in the province.

5 more at large

Ediong told the Inquirer that there were still five unidentified suspects in the robbery who remained at large. He declined to say whether they were also police officers.

The three arrested suspects were identified based on video footage from a security camera installed outside Mabitang’s house.

The video showed armed men boarding two vehicles—a gray sport utility vehicle and a white Toyota Vios—with one of the men seen carrying a bag believed to be containing the stolen items.

Some motorists who saw the suspects also gave eyewitness accounts to the police.

Detained at the Balagtas municipal jail, the three policemen also face administrative charges, Ediong said.