Four men being linked to at least three robberies were arrested in Quezon City Thursday shortly after commandeering a vehicle belonging to former Rep. Mat Defensor and holding his private driver captive.
The police were checking Friday whether the same group was behind the abduction and robbery of University of the Philippines professor Perlita Frago in October last year, noting the similarity in the way the victims were seized.
In a phone interview, Frago’s husband Joseph said the political science professor had been informed of the four men’s arrest but had yet to make a statement whether they were also the perpetrators in the Oct. 16, 2013, incident on UP campus.
Gonzalo Terado, 38; Noel Delosa, 34; Alvin Ignacio, 33; and Dennis Valdez, 29, were apprehended Thursday afternoon while still holding Defensor’s driver Danilo Victoria, 57, inside the Toyota Landcruiser belonging to the former Quezon City representative.
The Quezon City Police District said Victoria was waiting for his boss in the Landcruiser then parked on Xavierville Road, Barangay Loyola Heights, around 2 p.m., when the suspects approached and held him at gunpoint.
The men ordered Victoria to move to the backseat, forcing him to crouch down, before taking over the vehicle.
According to Supt. Richard Fiesta, commander of the QCPD’s Anonas station, his unit received a tip that a robbery gang would strike in the area that day, prompting him to order more patrols.
Around 2:30 p.m., one of Fiesta’s mobile teams posted near the UP Town Center commercial area noticed a Landcruiser moving as though the driver was losing control. The policemen later noticed a commotion inside the vehicle and decided to tail it along Katipunan Avenue.
Upon reaching the Balara area, the suspects got off the vehicle.
It was at this point that the lawmen moved in for the arrest. Fiesta said the suspects tried to run away but were subdued by his men, who also found the visibly traumatized Victoria still in the vehicle.
The QCPD said the suspects were carrying a revolver, a .45-cal. and a 9mm pistol, a hand grenade and suspected packet of “shabu.” By the time they were caught, they had already gotten hold of four cell phones belonging to Defensor and his driver, along with a travel bag containing clothes.
Delosa, Ignacio and Valdez are all residents of Marikina City, while Terado is from San Mateo, Rizal province.