POLICE ROUNDUP

Cop shoots lawman in Agno car accident

AGNO, Pangasinan– A policeman was accidentally shot by his colleague with an M14 rifle July 21 around 4 p.m. after refueling at a gasoline station in Poblacion East here.

Town police chief Insp. Wilfredo Cabanayan told Senior Supt. Percival Barba, police provincial director, in a report while their vehicle moved about five meters away from the gas station, a gunshot rang out inside their patrol car.

This shocked Cabanayan and it was then that he found out the victim, PO3 Joseph Abongan, the driver, partially raised his right hand and said “Sir, adda tamak (I was shot).”

Abongan, 34, married and resident of San Vicente, Alaminos City was injured at the lower back portion of his right armpit.

Cabanayan’s companions, SPO2 Lucito Regaspi, PO1 Jose Mandi III and PO1 Gonzales Cortez rushed the victim to a clinic here and later transferred him to Bolaney Doctors Hospital in Alaminos City.

However, Abongan died while undergoing treatment.

Prior to rushing the victim to the clinic, the police chief asked Cortez who was at the trunk of the vehicle and what had happened.

Cortez replied the car jolted when it moved ahead on the elevated shoulder of the concrete main road which has about two to three-inch raised gap from the shoulder.

When an ocular examination was made by the police, they found out that the PNP patrol car incurred shattered portion on the top edge of the plastic seat cover where Cortez was seated, bullet hole on the two flat sheet division of the trunk and cab and a wide bullet hole on the right back portion of the driver’s seat.

A case of reckless imprudence resulting to homicide has been filed against Cortez.

The suspect remains in the custody of the local police station.

Paraffin test on Cortez and the ballistics examination of the involved firearm were already requested from the PNP Crime Laboratory Service in Lingayen, Cabanayan said in his report. – Jennelyn Mondejar


250-pound bomb dug in Kalinga

KALINGA– Civilians in a remote Kalinga village turned over explosives including a 250-pound bomb to government troops belonging to the Isabela-based Army’s 5th Infantry Division last week.

The bombs, which residents of Barangay Magnao in Pinukpuk, Kalinga have yielded to the Army after their discovery in the area are believed to be owned by the New People’s Army operating in the Kalinga-Cagayan border.

Major Gen. Nestor Ochoa, 5th ID chief, said that aside from the deadly 250-pound general purpose bomb, the villagers also turned over four live 60-mm mortar shells, as well as two hand-held radios. – CL


ATM in store on NLEx carted away

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — An Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSB) installed at a convenience store on North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) in Apalit town was carted away last week by still unidentified men,.

A report submitted by the Pampanga Provincial Police Office to Central Luzon Police Director Leon Nilo Dela Cruz stated 15 armed men dismantled the ATM of the bank and took it away. The robbery took place at about 2 a.m. near the Total gas station on NLEx.

The report also stated robbers wore black and fatigue uniforms with some of them carrying “SAGSDI” and “Bitag” identification cards.

The suspects were on board a white L300 FB van with license plate number ZKR 227, a silver Toyota Revo vehicle with license number XPU 338, a white Toyota Corolla car, a white Toyota Revo vehicle, and a red Nissan Urban van, it was also reported.

Dela Cruz said that his investigators are coordinating with the management of NLEx in an effort to solve the robbery incident, which is said to be the first of its kind in Region 3.

“We have asked the NLEx management to provide us with the video feeds of its CCTV (closed circuit television) to help us identify the group that pulled the robbery,” Dela Cruz said.

Artist’s sketches of the robbers based on the testimonies and descriptions provided by witnesses were completed by the Apalit town policemen.

The sketches are expected to help police investigators identify the robbers.

Police have yet to determine how much money was in the ATM when it was taken away.


4 Koreans nabbed for human trafficking

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga -- Joint operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at the Clark Freeport in this province and Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment composed of CIDG operatives nabbed four Korean nationals for illegal recruitment and human trafficking July 20.

In his report to Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, regional director Heranio Manalo identified the four Korean nationals only through their aliases as Ricky Jung, Rich Shin, Ivan and Elvin.

The four Koreans were also working in the country without permits, according to Manalo.

He said 15 Filipino women who were recruited by the group to work as singers and dancers in Korea were rescued.

The Koreans and the 15 Filipino women were taken to the office of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment under the Office of the Vice President at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Charges of large-scale illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons are being readied against the Koreans based on the complaint-affidavits of the rescued victims.

The immigration bureau is also set to file charges against the Koreans for violation of immigration laws.

Manalo said the Koreans were apprehended in various locations in Angeles City: two of them at the Yoojin Travel and Tours Office along the Friendship Highway, and the two others at Sunset Estate, Palace Hotel in Barangay Anunas and at a “safehouse” at Timog Park.

“This is a major accomplishment of Immigration Area 2 under the regionalization program’ implemented by Commissioner Libanan,” Manalo said.

Libanan has effected the arrest of the Koreans for their continued violations of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, as amended.

The bureau’s Area 2 office acted on information on the illegal operations of the group which processed applicants at the Yoojin Travel and Tours and then brought them to a training center in Aduas Norte, Cabanatuan City while waiting for their tourist visas before being deployed to Korea.

The arresting officers were identified as SPO1 Henry Bertillo and PO1 Junvy Camero of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, and Eric Anthony Gan and Lucito Mercado of BI-Clark.
Last month, human trafficking charges were also filed against two Malaysian nationals who were apprehended while escorting three Filipino women out of the country.

Student robbed of cell phone
BAGUIO CITY – A student of the University of the Cordillera was forcibly divested of her cell phone by still unidentified men here near Bonifacio Road last week.

Police identified the victims as Dette Heizel T. Granda, native of Dolores, Abra. She told police at Station 7 SM Branch the incident happened around 9:40 pm at a store along Laurel St. by the culprits.

They approached and one grabbed her cell phone N80 worth P 6,500 while the other hacked her with a bladed weapon then left her.

She said the suspects were about 5'2 to 5'3 in height, 25 to 30 years old medium built with semi-bald haircut. -- Allison Nika Gundran