Ax falling on more rogue policemen

CAMP ALEJO SANTOS, Bulacan—The police chief of the City of Malolos was relieved on Friday after two of his men were implicated in the Sept. 8 kidnapping of a Chinese national in Caloocan City.

Senior Supt. Ferdinand Divina, acting Bulacan provincial police director, relieved Senior Supt. Donato Bait and installed Supt. Arwin Tadeo as acting Malolos police chief.

Also on Friday, PO1 Danilo Sytamco and PO3 Xerxes Martin, both of the Malolos police, surrendered to Divina and Malolos Mayor Christian Natividad after they were identified as among the abductors of Lin Hanzhang, who had escaped from his captors.

Divina said PO1 Ariel Aguilar of Guiguinto police was identified as another abductor, after Lin managed to take down the license plate of the vehicle allegedly used by the policemen.

Divina gave Supt. Ernesto Cruz, Guiguinto police chief, 24 hours to locate and detain Aguilar.

The Bulacan police recently filed robbery and homicide charges against a dismissed policeman, PO2 Macmac Ford Hugo, for his alleged role in the P1.2-million robbery and murder of money changer Carmina Pagatpatan in Plaridel town on Sept. 2.

Pagatpatan, owner of J-Lyn Money Changer in Malolos, was shot and killed by armed men riding on a motorcycle, after she withdrew money from a bank.

Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, Central Luzon police regional director, said he wanted police officials to keep tabs on their men’s activities, to curb future attempts by erring policemen at another “hulidap” (arrest and holdup) operation.

Two policemen and a civilian were arrested for allegedly drugging and raping an 18-year-old college student in Ipil town, Zamboanga Sibugay province, on Sept. 8. PO1 Videri Omar Ali-Gani of Siay police and PO1 Jul Kaiser Hayudini Sali of Malangas police had been detained and charged in the Zamboanga Sibugay prosecutor’s office in Ipil, along with another suspect, Momar Furuc, said Chief Supt. Edgar Basbas, Western Mindanao police director.

Aside from rape, serious illegal detention and qualified human trafficking complaint, illegal drugs charges were filed by the Western Mindanao police against the policemen and Furuc after they were “tested positive for drugs,” Basbas said.

Two more suspects—Rizal Abualas and Lynjie Tenorio—were being hunted, according to Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo of the Western Mindanao police logistics office. The victim said the five men raped her and forced her to take shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride). She escaped Wednesday and went to the Ipil police to complain, Basbas said.

Based on the girl’s account, Ali-Gani allegedly persuaded the victim to join him and the other suspects at a boarding house on Sept. 8. Basbas also directed the chiefs of police of Siay and Malangas to explain why the two police officers were in Ipil when they were supposed to be on duty. Reports from Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao