Rob gang preying on elder women in Cagayan falls, say police

GONZAGA, Cagayan—A robbery syndicate operating in Cagayan is believed to have been dismantled after four of its suspected members, who are mother-and-son and father-and-daughter pairs, were arrested following a car chase on the Dugo-San Vicente Road here on Saturday.

Senior Inspector Richard Gatan, Gonzaga police chief, said the group was behind a series of robbery and killings of old women in various parts of the province.

“After their arrest, more and more witnesses are coming out, pointing to this group as the culprits in the cases of disappearance or robbery of hapless old women,” he said.

Police said the suspects—Rose Pascua, 49, and her son Adrian, 23; and Roberto Balao, 39, and his daughter Gladys, 20—had admitted to killing and robbing six more victims, all elder women, starting in February 2012.

“I was trembling listening to one of the women suspects who casually told me that she had killed ‘only four so far,’” said Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr.

During interrogation, the group supposedly confessed to the abduction and killing of other victims. A list of unsolved disappearances and murders in Cagayan matched the group’s confession.

They admitted killing Carmelita Ancheta and Erlinda Arauaon on February 21. The victims were separately seized and dumped in Gattaran and Peñablanca towns.

Police in Gattaran and Peñablanca found the bodies of the two victims at the exact spots identified by the suspects. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon