POLICE ROUNDUP

Carnapped vehicle found  from mayor’s farm

BANGUED, Abra – A carnapped vehicle was recently recovered inside the farm of a town mayor in Abra.

Reports sent by Senior Supt. Benjamin Lusad, police director, said they recovered a Toyota Hi lix van inside the hog farm of Mayor Jendrix Luna in Pulot, Lagayan town that was forcibly taken by armed men in San Juan, Balagtas, Bulacan. 

Provincial Intelligence Branch, Public Safety Company, Lagayan Municipal Police Station, implemented a search warrant issued by Judge Corpuz B Alzate for violation of Republic Act A 6539 (Anti-Carnapping Law) on the hog farm of at So Kiwas, Barangay Pulot, Lagayan, around 4:20 p.m. of Nov.7 resulting to the recovery of a Toyota pick-up with stolen license plates.  

Lusad said LR Tiqui Builders Corp owned the vehicle which was reported to be forcibly taken on Dec. 28, 2009 along Mc Arthur Highway, San Juan Balagtas, Bulacan.  

A case was filed against the care taker, Armando Donato.

Sagada cops in ‘hot water’

CAMP DANGWA, Benguet — All 21 members of the Sagada Municipal Police Station are in “hot water” as they are being probed over their “lack of action” on the proliferation of drugs in the area.

Senior Supt. William Vitenio said the investigation follows the arrest of six alleged drug-mafia members who yielded hashish last Oct. 24.

Chief Supt. Benjamin Magalong, Police Regional Office-Cordillera Administrative Region director, said they all face the ax unless they can explain why these drug dens were able to operate despite their proximity to the municipal police station.

Jeep falls down ravine; 20 hurt

SAN MARIANO, Isabela -- At least 20 people were injured after a passenger jeepney fell into a ravine here in Barangay Marannao on Nov/ 17.

Police said the jeepney with 40 passengers and driven by Bernabe Reynaldo was enroute to Barangay Ueg of this municipality, when the driver lost control of the vehicle after hitting the brakes while negotiating a sharp curve.

The injured passengers were rushed to a hospital in Ilagan City. Reynaldo surrendered to police, claiming it was an accident.

Marijuana bricks seized at checkpoint

SAN GABRIEL, La Union — Police confiscated marijuana bricks valued at P400,000 at a checkpoint here in Barangay Bumbuneg Nov. 8,

Senior Insp. Gerardo Soriano, San Gabriel police chief said police received a tip regarding the scheduled transport of the huge amount of drugs.

A checkpoint was immediately established to intercept the vehicle.

A manhunt has been launched against the suspected courier of the drugs – Edison Sung-ag, a barangay tanod of Barangay Lon-oy, San Gabriel, La Union.

Soriano said that search operation inside the vehicle was conducted that resulted to the capture of four bricks of dried marijuana leaves weighing 7 kg.

He added the reported owner of the marijuana bricks is now being hunted after he escaped during the search operation.

Five women arrested for slashing bags

BAGUIO CITY — Five women who pose as tourists in this city to slash bags and steal from unwitting victims were arrested by police.

Senior Supt. Jesus Cambay Jr., city police director, said Suzette Tinaza,48, San Fernando City, La Union, the alleged leader of the group; Marilou Marana, 49; Rossana Sinco, 38, of Cabugao, Ilocos Sur; Venus Tumaliua, 32, and Lovely Talana, 28, were caught in the act of slashing the bag of a victim who just came out of the bank.

Cambay said the five, who travel into the city every day as tourists, are believed behind the series of bag-slashing incidents in the city.

GRO witness in drug operation killed

RAMON, Isabela — A guest relations officer  who was a star witness in a drug buy-bust operation, was found dead in a vacant lot in Barangay Raniag, Ramon, Isabela last Nov. 8.

Police said Mylene Dizon was found with bullet through her head.

Police said they have established a lead to identify the suspect as well as the mastermind in her killing.

They said her testimony on the drug bust was vital in court. -- Freddie G. Lazaro

Farmer dies after trike plunges down ravine

MARCOS, Ilocos Norte – A farmer died while his companion was critically injured after the motorcycle they were riding on incurred mechanical problem.

The vehicle plunged in a deep ravine here Nov. 10. Armand Battad, 37, driver, resident of Marcos town and Jonel Santa Monica were rushed by responding lawmen at Doña Josefa Edralin Marcos District Hospital where Battad was declared dead by his attending physicians. -- Freddie G. Lazaro

Pa jumps to death after throwing 2 sons into river

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Distraught and sullen, a 43-year-old man who wanted to end it all threw his two sons, aged 10 and 12, into the Baay River, here, and then committed suicide by jumping off the bridge.

Police investigators said Efren Sison, a tricycle driver, of Maniboc, Lingayen, first tried to ram his tricycle into an oncoming van around 11 a.m.

When the van driver managed to steer clear of the tricycle’s suicidal path, Sison sped off with his two sons on board and later bumped into another tricycle.

Injured but conscious after the collision, Sison refused the help offered by passing motorists to take him and his children — Dave, 10 and Dranreb, 12 — to the hospital, police said.

At this juncture, Sison carried his sons one by one from the tricycle to the bridge where he tossed them into the river. He also followed by jumping off.

Later at 2:30 p.m., rescuers from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), recovered the bodies of Sison and his two sons.

Sison’s wife was speechless upon learning of the incident and kept mum on what could have driven her husband to kill their children and commit suicide, police said.

Urbiztondo surfer dies; 1 missing

SAN JUAN, La Union — A 14-year-old surfer who was practicing his sport with his beach buddies in Barangay Urbiztondo, here, was swept away by violent waves and drowned Nov. 10 as rescuers continued their search yesterday for one more missing.

Police identified the fatality as one Ney Benito, of Barangay Urbiztondo.

Earlier, a search launched by the La Union Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for three other surfers led to the rescue of Rizaline F. Molina, 14, and a still unidentified man already recovering at a local hospital.

But the search was still on for Angelica Fontanilla, 15, who is still missing after big waves swept her out into the sea around 2 p.m. Sunday.

Man stabbed 12 times found alive

MAPANDAN, Pangasinan - – A man stabbed 12 times and dumped into a river was found alive Monday morning in Barangay Poblacion here.

Alejandro Viduya, 36, of Barangay Tempra Guilig, San Fabian town was taken to the Mapandan Community Hospital for treatment. 

Reports said Viduya was walking in front of the municipal hall of Mangaldan when unidentified men took him.

Viduya was reportedly facing a string of robber charges in a local court.

Militiaman shot dead at vice mayor’s farm

SOLSONA, Ilocos Norte – Police are investigating the killing of a member of the government militia inside the farm reportedly owned by Vice Mayor Joseph de Lara in Solsona town in Ilocos Norte on Monday.

Lawrence Florence, of Barangay Manalpac was reportedly shot and killed by the farm caretaker identified as FelinoBaraoiadan.

Police expressed belief the victim and the suspect were having drinks when a quarrel erupted between them.      

Overcharged cell phone sparks fire

DAGUPAN CITY – Authorities blamed on an overcharged cellular phone a fire that razed four houses in Barangay Caranglaan here the other day.

The phone was reportedly left plugged to the power outlet for more than three hours, according to Senior Fire Officer 2 Jesus Asto, operations chiefs of the Dagupan Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

The blaze destroyed the houses belonging to the families of Peter Tamondong, Wilfredo Roy, Debbie Braganza and Josephine Aquino in Sitio Puelay.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Pampanga pawnshop loses P1.2 M, jewelry to burglars

MABALACAT CITY – A pawnshop here lost some P1.2 million in cash, jewelry and other items to robbers who entered it through a tunnel it had dug up from a nearby canal along the MacArthur Highway during the recent long “Undas” (All Saints’ Day) weekend, according to a belated police report.

The robbers, tagged as belonging to the “daga-daga (rodent)” group because of their modus operandi, are believed also responsible for heists in other pawnshops and lending firms across the province.

Supt. Ferdinand Perez, city police chief, said the group victimized the NW Pawnshop in Barangay San Franciso here during the recent holidays.

Police quoted Shiela Salas, 37, an appraiser of NW Pawnshop, as saying that everything was intact when she left the establishment at around 5 p.m. last Nov. 2.

Police said a resident in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City is now being investigated after witnesses saw him near the pawnshop when the burglary occurred.

They withheld his identity pending the filing of charges against him.

Perez said the pawnshop did not have a closed-circuit television camera or a security guard.

“This is in violation of a local ordinance penalizing financial institutions, including lending firms and pawnshops,” he said.

Only 2 private armed groups remain active in Cordillera

CAMP DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – Police are now tracking the remaining eight members of two active private armed groups (PAGs) still operating in the Cordillera, particularly in Abra, officials said here last week.

               

Chief Supt. Benjamin B. Magalong, regional director of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera, said over the past two years, law enforcers neutralized 88 PAG members that resulted to the disbandment of at least 10 PAGs in Abra and Kalinga.

                

“Our operations against PAG members in Abra and Kalinga significantly contributed in the realization of a secure, fair and generally peaceful elections, both during the May 2013 mid-term elections and the recently concluded barangay polls,” Magalong said.

                

He disclosed the dreaded Vincent Guzman PAG operating in Abra and other parts of the Ilocos Region has only three members while another undisclosed PAG has five new members.

                

Magalong ordered police operating units in Abra to intensify their operations against the remaining members of the two PAGs in order to neutralize their existence and guarantee the safety of the people, especially during the conduct of upcoming elections.

                

Senior Supt. Benjamin M. Lusad, director of the Abra provincial police office, said the implementation of heightened peacekeeping strategies, continuous dialogue with local leaders and the people and the practice of the widely accepted conflict mediation and diffusion contributed in the attainment of a peaceful barangay elections in Abra.

                

“We are elated that majority of our local leaders in Abra have embraced peace as their overarching agenda which greatly helped us in sustaining the gains of our peacekeeping strategies since the May 2013 mid-term elections,” Lusad said.

                 

However, he admitted that there are still two out of the 27 local chief executives in the province who refuse to cooperate in the implementation of the peacekeeping strategies with the primary objective of attaining lasting peace in Abra.

                

Lusad declined to identify the concerned local chief executives, saying that police officials are still trying their best to convince them to embrace peace as their main agenda.

                

Before the conduct of the May 13, 2013 barangay elections, contending municipal candidates in 10 out of the 27 municipalities underwent the conflict mediation and diffusion (CMD) process that turned out to be successful in reducing the tension among them and their supporters that contributed to the attainment of the peaceful elections.

               
Under the CMD process, parties are allowed to undergo several steps, particularly the introduction of the parties, the ventilation of grievances, discussion of issues, resolutions and agreements and the sealing of the resolutions with the supervision of a mediator from the PNP.

                

Magalong branded the two uncooperative local chief executives as trying to lord it over the municipalities that they lead as if it is their kingdom, thus, they will continue to implement the necessary interventions until such time that they will be left behind in terms of growth and development.

                

He added that it will be their constituents that will judge them in the future if they continue to stick to their traditional way of leading their municipalities because they will not be blessed with development among others.

Drug case witness slain

TUGUEGARAO CITY – A guest relation officer (GRO) tagged as a star witness in a drug case was found dead in Ramon town, Isabela Nov. 8.

Mylene Dizon was found at a vacant lot in the village of Raniag with gunshots to the head, according to town police chief Superintendent Juancho Alobba.

The victim was said to be a witness to a drug sting at the nightspot she was working last month.

Alobba said they already have a lead on the identities of the killers. – Raymund Catindig

Dad hacks wayward son

AURORA Aurora, Isabela — Tragedy struck a home in Barangay Bolinao, this province night of Nov. 9 when an enraged father hacked his 14-year-old son, wounding him seriously, in the middle of a heated argument.

Senior Insp. Sherwin Concha, chief of police, said Regie Abrea, an out-of-school youth, raised a bitter argument with his father, Richard, around 7 p.m. and would not stop until the latter blew his top.

Richard got hold of a bolo and struck Regie in the left shoulder.

Police arrested the father and seized his bolo as evidence in a case of frustrated parricide.

But Concha quipped: “Masyadong matigas ang ulo ‘nung bata. Pasaway talaga, mabarkada at minsan lasing umuuwi.”