Jailhouse buzz leads probers to NPD cop’s alleged shooter

Walls do have ears.

Listening to the buzz inside the Caloocan City jail helped investigators track down one of two men who allegedly shot and wounded a police officer during a shantytown demolition that turned violent earlier this week.

Don-don Robines, 37, was arrested 3 p.m. Thursday thanks partly to the lead police got from the conversations of some male residents who were earlier apprehended for causing trouble or carrying bladed weapons during the May 26 mass eviction at Calaanan compound on Edsa, Barangay 86.

“Those who were initially arrested kept blaming him (Robines),” Caloocan police chief Senior Supt. Bartolome Bustamante said. “That’s what the detainees said, so I had it verified.”

An arresting team found Robines near the house of his live-in partner in Bagong Silang, Barangay 176.

Robines was tagged as a suspect in the shooting of PO1 Virgilio Cabangis, one of the policemen sent by the Northern Police District (NPD) to provide security for the demolition crew.

The officer was shot in the leg and was still in the hospital as of Friday. Bustamante said Cabangis might need a blood donation for a surgical operation to remove the bullet that remained stuck in his bone.

Bustamante said a security camera footage in the area also caught Robines holding a .38-cal. revolver that he apparently used in the shooting. When arrested two days later, the man was again carrying a .38-cal. but did not put up a fight, the official said.

A second suspect in the shooting, known only as “Gang-gang,” remains at large. Witnesses said he was seen wielding an improvised shotgun or “sumpak” during the demolition.

Robines faces charges for frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms in the city prosecutor’s office.