Police bust gang of robbers, rapists in Quezon

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Policemen busted a notorious robbery holdup gang on Friday following two separate successive incidents of burglaries and the rape of a minor in Tayabas City and Lucban town, a police official said on Saturday.

Senior Supt. Ronaldo Genaro Ylagan, Quezon police chief, said in a report that pursuing policemen arrested six of the 10 suspects who attacked the Anturium Resort in Barangay May-it, Lucban, at 12:05 a.m. on Friday, and who later burglarized a residence in Tayabas City.

Ylagan said the suspects armed with handguns and rifles entered through the back of the resort and herded the owner of the place and at least 14 guests from their respective cottages and divested them of their valuables—mobile phones, laptops, cameras, jewelry and cash.

Investigators were still computing the total amount of the loot.

The police official said two of the robbers also raped a 13-year-old guest, after which the suspects fled on foot.

Chief Insp. Javier Baasis, Lucban police chief investigator, said by phone on Saturday that the resort, located in a remote part of the village, has no security guard and closed circuit television camera.

Investigators found out from villagers that the suspects escaped aboard a black Kia van (CTN 234) and two motorcycles, he said.

Ylagan said policemen in nearby towns immediately established checkpoints.

Policemen stationed along Maharlika Highway in Tayabas City spotted the van at 6:15 a.m. on Friday.

The suspects sped away from the police dragnet but three of them were later pinned down in a car chase.

Police arrested the van passengers and driver identified as Jake Cerdenia Desembrana, 28; Marlon Gutierrez Fuentespina, 42; and Jesserey Enriquez Javines, 30.

The arrested suspects revealed the identities and location of three other gang members, which resulted in the arrest of Jay-Ar Macalalad Jr., Mark Anthony Francisco Gamason, 19; and his sibling Eliza Francisco Gamason, 21, in separate police operations at the gang’s hideouts in Barangay Wakas in Tayabas and Isabang in Lucena City.

During the investigation, a resident of Tayabas City appeared at the city’s police station and also reported a robbery incident.

The victim positively identified Desembrana, Fuentespina, Javines and Mark Anthony Gamason as among the group of armed robbers that broke inside their house in Barangay Ibas at 1:30 a.m. on Friday, or shortly after robbing Anturium resort.

The victim said the suspects took a wristwatch, after which the robbers hurriedly escaped when the house owner woke up.

Ylagan said he dispatched a special unit to track down the four other members of the gang.

He said the group was behind the series of robbery-holdups in several gasoline stations in Quezon.

Police seized the van, two motorcycles, two handguns, two shotguns, assorted ammunition, two plastic sachets that contained suspected shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from the gang’s safe houses.

The lawmen also recovered a bag containing some of the items stolen from the resort guests. The suspects were detained at the Tayabas police jail, Ylagan said.