Slain kidnap gang leader met with cops, local execs

SAN PEDRO CITY, Philippines—The alleged leader of a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang in Southern Luzon had apparently kept his ties to some police and local government officials up to the time of his death in Laguna on Wednesday.

Rolando “Rolly” Fajardo, who was once named the country’s most wanted criminal, was in fact working as a consultant to the Calamba City government after he was released on bail in connection with a string of kidnap cases against him.

The alleged leader of the Fajardo kidnap-for-ransom gang was shot dead Wednesday evening by at least four men in Barangay Bagong Kalsada, Calamba City.

Also killed was Fajardo’s driver, Thomas Andaya, while his bodyguard Marciliano Batan Jr. was unscathed.

In a phone interview, Calamba police chief Supt. Fernando Ortega said the incident happened at around 7:30 p.m. in front of a convenience store in a busy spot along the national road.

He said Fajardo’s car, an Audi, was headed north when it was sideswiped by a white car without license plates, forcing it to pull over to the side of the road.

Four men armed with rifles, their faces uncovered, stepped out of the white car and started shooting, hitting Andaya and Fajardo, who was in the front passenger seat.

From the back seat, Batan fired back, forcing the gunmen to withdraw, Ortega said. “The victims were rushed to the (Calamba Medical Center) but died about an hour later,” he added.

Ortega said there were several witnesses who could help identify the gunmen.

He said that according to Batan, they had come from a “meeting” at Camp Eldridge, an army and police camp in Los Baños town, about a five-minute drive from the ambush site.

“It seems (the ambush) was a setup,” he said.

A source, who sought anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case, said Fajardo had met with his longtime friends, Supt. Glenn Dumlao and Dante Alvarez, at Camp Eldridge.