2 cops tied to kidnap gang; 50 more sacked in QCPD

ABOUT 50 Quezon City policemen, including their commander, were relieved of their posts on Friday after two other officers were tagged as part of a kidnapping and extortion gang that used their station as the place for extracting payment from their victims.

About a quarter of the forces under the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) Batasan station were ordered replaced after the arrest of PO1 Adrian Coso Momo Jr., 29, and PO1 Puut Bagtong Piya, 37.

Momo and Piya are currently assigned to the National Capital Region Police Office’s Regional Police Holding and Accounting Unit. Momo used to be with QCPD-Batasan.

The two were among the nine persons arrested on June 23, two days after they allegedly abducted 22-year-old Calvin Rey Noche and three of his friends in Quezon City. The hunt was launched after Noche’s parents informed the QCPD headquarters that they had paid P50,000 for their son’s release.

According to the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), Noche and his friends Catherine Borleo, Leo Gaerlan and Rainer Ocampo were taken by a group of men while they were at Gaerlan’s house in Fairview.

The suspects also took the victims’ vehicles—Noche’s Pajero and a Honda Jazz.

The abductors later released Borleo, Gaerlan and Ocampo but brought Noche to a game cock farm at Block 2, Lot 6, St. John Street, inside Ismael Park Homes Subdivision, Ampid, San Mateo, Rizal province.

The suspects initially demanded P500,000 from Noche. On the night of June 22, they moved him to the Batasan station compound where they forced him to sign a contract “pawning” his Pajero for P300,000.

Noche’s parents eventually paid P50,000 through an online cash remittance service and had him released at the gate of Samaka Village, Fairview, on June 23.

The ensuing manhunt the same day led to the arrest of suspects Franelyn Magadap, 38, and Jonathan Junsay, 26, at a house in Don Enrique Heights, Quezon City, where the four victims were allegedly held before Noche was separated and brought to San Mateo.

Two more suspects—Henry Tesalona, 31, and Jun Santos, 41—were arrested in the cock farm in San Mateo.

Later that night, a Starex van (ZNE 183) that the suspects also used in the abduction was spotted at the Batasan police station compound, where an arresting team found Momo, Piya, and three more suspects identified as Joseph Rocha, 39, Reynaldo Bermina, 30, and Rodolfo Basister, 41.

According to CIDU, this last group was caught negotiating with another abduction victim, Larry Jade Siervo, 18.

Noche’s Pajero was later found in Batasan Hills while the Honda Jazz, whose ownership was not disclosed, was recovered in Barangay Holy Spirit.

QCPD director Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao said an investigation was underway to check if Momo and Piya had other accomplices among the policemen in the Batasan station.

The station commander, Supt. Victor Pagulayan, was replaced by Supt. Robert Sales.

Last month, Quezon City Councilor Ranulfo Ludovica accused the officers posted at the Batasan station of extorting money from arrested drug suspects.