Five suspected rob gang members slain in Isabela

BY JOE DASIG JR.

CAUAYAN CITY, Isabela -- Five suspected members of the dreaded Kalinga robbery gang were gunned down one after the other on New Year’s Day during a brief chase in barangay Marabulig, this city.

Senior Supt. Percival Barba, Isabela police director, said the slain men were believed responsible for a series of robberies on the national road in Isabela and Cagayan.

Earlier, 52 passengers of a Dagupan company bus with plate No. DFZ-622 that came from the terminal in Tuguegarao City bound for Manila were held up by the heavily armed gang members. But policemen caught up with them when bus driver Orlando Gomez, 52, refused to drop them at a secluded place. Supt. Antonio Taylan, this city?s police chief, said the five gang men were monitored after Barba sent a text message that a Dagupan bus was boarded in Tuguegarao by five suspicious-looking men.