SPD chief relieves cop tagged in kidnap-slay of casino operator

Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario Jr., director of the Southern Police District (SPD) has relieved Supt. Johnny Orme for allegedly being the leader of a kidnap-for-ransom group that killed a casino operator and his driver.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Apolinario said he relieved Orme, who is still at large, of his post at the SPD Personnel Holding and Accounting Section.

Apolinario said they had been contacting Orme for a week but he was not answering calls.

“He is being contacted by SPD to come out in the open to clear his name if indeed he has no involvement,” he said in a statement.

It was Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the PNP chief himself, who had tagged Orme as the leader of the gang that allegedly kidnapped and killed Carlos Abad Tan, a Filipino-Chinese junket operator at Resorts World Manila in Pasay, and his driver on Oct. 21.

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Members of the gang initially asked a P50 million as ransom money but lowered it to P10 million.

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4 cops killed in shootout

The Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) traced the suspects last Friday (Oct. 27) in Carmona, Cavite.

In a shootout, the PNP-AKG members killed four suspects, all fellow police officers – three of them active and one inactive.

They anti-kidnapping officers found the remains of Tan near where the shootout took place. They saw a monitor lizard, or bayawak, feeding on the remains.

Senior Supt. Glen Dumlao, PNP-AKG chief, identified the slain officers as PO2 Rodel Estanoc, PO1 Ramil Espejo, and PO1 Rolando Albios. On the same day, SPO1 Benjamin Pagarigan surrendered and named Orme and Alex Gozum as the group’s heads. Another officer, PO3 Arman Labrado, who was assigned at Quezon City Police District, was also implicated in the kidnapping of Tan. He was arrested on Sunday (Oct. 29).

Frequent casino visitors

According to Dumlao, Orme was a member of the PNP Maritime Group in Batangas, where he met and colluded with Gozum. Gozum’s was reportedly involved in pilfering oil from the Port of Batangas for his gasoline stations in Parañaque and the Angono-Taytay boundary in Rizal. “Both Orme and Gozum were always seen at Resorts World and Solaire casinos,” Dumlao said. “Orme would disguise himself as a casino financier by asking for investments from other policemen.” Aside from Orme and Gozum, the police are also looking for another unidentified man. The family of Orme had also expressed willingness to intercede on his behalf so that he could peacefully surrender to authorities.

Reshuffling

Meanwhile, Apolinario also ordered a reshuffle of police officers assigned to the Special Operations Unit (SOU) and Intelligence Unit (IU) of the Parañaque City Police Station, where Orme was previously assigned as an intelligence officer.

He was relieved from that post in May after a failed buy-bust resulted to the escape of a certain RJ, a high-value target drug pusher in a chase with police from Parañaque to Batangas port.

Left by the suspect was his getaway vehicle containing 2 kilos of shabu, worth P6 million.

Apolinario said the relief of Parañaque personnel did not mean that they had been prejudged as guilty. It was done to ensure that there would be no suspicions cast on officers at the SOU and IU. /atm