He ‘raped’ women in van, then dies in QC cops’ van

ALFIE Turado, 34, was last heard arguing with his fellow suspect, Wilfredo Lorenzo, as to who between them really raped their two female passengers whom they also robbed inside their “colorum” van last week.

Hours later, Turado turned up dead, shot in the chest and neck—this time in a van of the Quezon City Police District.

The QCPD offered an explanation that raised not a few eyebrows: Turado was shot after he tried to grab the gun of one of his police escorts.

As word spread about the suspect’s killing, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) entered the picture and a ranking QCPD officer was quick to defend his men’s actions.

Turado, a native of Isabela province and resident of Barangay Pasong Tamo in Quezon City, was arrested Thursday night as one of the suspects in the robbery and rape of two women who hailed a passenger van on the night of June 10 on Edsa.

The QCPD said Turado was caught in Barangay Obrero and first brought to the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU), where Lorenzo was already detained.

Both suspects claimed that they just drove the van and insisted that the other was the rapist, according to CIDU chief Supt. Rodel Marcelo.

Turado then “requested to be escorted” to his house so he could retrieve the victims’ belongings, PO2 Romeo Niño said in a report. The suspect was accompanied by SPO2 Jonathan Caranza, PO3 Eldin Dino, PO2 Basilio Buce and PO2 Randy Gandingco in a Toyota Avanza.

As their vehicle reached the corner of Tandang Sora and Visayas avenues around 3:20 a.m., Turado grabbed the pistol tucked in Gandingco’s waistband, Nino said. As they grappled for the gun, it went off and hit the suspect.

“The suspect was tall, about 5’8” to 5’10”, and he must have underestimated Gandingco,” Niño told the Inquirer.

Turado was brought to East Avenue Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead after sustaining gunshot wounds in the chest and neck.

Motu proprio probe

A CHR representative went to the QCPD on Friday to conduct an investigation motu proprio or of its own accord.

In an interview, Marcelo welcomed the probe and said “I will stand by what my men said. There is the assumption of regularity in the performance of duty. We are not here to kill but to implement the law.”

According to the complaint of the two women, for four hours—from 10 p.m. of June 10 up to 2 a.m. of June 11—they were sexually abused inside the van by two men whom they later identified as Lorenzo and Turado.

The complainants said they boarded the van in front of Centris Mall on Edsa, expecting to be taken to SM Fairview. When they were the only two passengers left, Turado and Lorenzo allegedly declared a holdup, blindfolded and hogtied them and took turns raping them.

The women were later dumped on a parking lot in Barangay Sauyo.

Lorenzo, 36, native of Pangasinan and residing in Rodriguez, Rizal, was arrested June 13 in Barangay Kaligayahan in Quezon City.

Investigators were able to track down the van through the license plate—ALA 6980—which was also captured on a security camera.

According to Marcelo, one footage showed Turado stepping out of the van to buy a cigarette and later returning. The QCPD official said this belied Turado’s claim that he was only forced by Lorenzo at gunpoint to rape the passengers.

 

Two more complainants

Two more women—both call center employees—went to the QCPD also on Friday, hours after Turado’s death, saying they were also robbed by Lorenzo, who also allegedly punched them into submission.

They said they surfaced after recognizing Lorenzo in TV news reports. The alleged robbery happened on March 19, around 6 a.m., after they boarded the van in front of SM North, going to Bulacan.

They said the driver of the van had them handcuffed while claiming to be a former policeman, and then took their gadgets and ATM cards.

The suspect was able to withdraw their money before releasing them, five hours after their ordeal began, at a gas station in Veterans Village, Project 7, the women said.