Red Scorpion Gang eyed in Wong slay

Police tagged yesterday remnants of the Red Scorpion Gang (RSG) in the kidnapping and murder of Filipino-Chinese businesswoman Connie Yap Wong and a Manila policeman in Valenzuela earlier this week.

This developed as President Arroyo ordered an all-out manhunt for the suspects, believed to be holding three more kidnap victims separately snatched in Baguio City and in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, Wong’s driver, Arcangel Barquilla, 27, who was also seized by the seven heavily armed kidnappers of Wong and PO1 Dionisio Borca Jr., a member of the Western Police District, was detained for further questioning as investigators are looking into the possibility that the crime was an inside job.

Valenzuela police chief Superintendent Leopoldo Urena said they are already following up some hot clues that could lead to the capture of the killers.

"We have already pinpointed certain persons as having killed the Uratex lady (Wong) and her bodyguard (Borca)," Urena told The STAR.

Wong was a sister of Robert Cheng, owner of Uratex Foam Corp., whose daughter Mary Grace Cheng-Rogasas was also kidnapped in Quezon City last June 18.

Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., chief of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF), said his men have established positive links between the kidnappers and the Red Scorpion Gang which disbanded following the death of its leader, Alfredo "Joey" de Leon in 1995 in an alleged encounter with the police in Calumpit, Bulacan.

Northern Police District director Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol also theorized that Valencia’s group was behind the kidnap-slaying of Wong and Borca.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the President has directed PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza to solve the twin kidnap-slayings as soon as possible.

Tiglao also said Mrs. Arroyo would likely visit the wake of Wong.

"One worrisome development here was that in the past months, there has been an intensified drive to hunt down suspected kidnappers belonging to the Kuratong Baleleng in Ozamis (City). There were unverified reports that they have moved to Metro Manila and were responsible for this case," Tiglao said.

Police eye Barquilla role in twin murders

Police are now seriously looking into the possible involvement of Barquilla in last Monday’s kidnapping and subsequent murder of Wong and Borca.

"Barquilla is now a suspect and is being placed under tactical interrogation," a source at Camp Crame said.

Barquilla claimed that seven heavily abducted them early Monday morning in Barangay Manresa in Quezon City.

He said their vehicle, a Mitsubishi Adventure with license plates WTJ-625, was intercepted by two vans, an Isuzu Hi-Lander and a Toyota Revo with no license plates, at the intersection of Matutum and Mauban streets in Manresa.

The kidnapper,s who introduced themselves as policemen, allegedly commandeered the Mitsubishi Adventure, blindfolded the victims and sped away.

The captives were taken to an undisclosed hideout where Wong was ordered to call her family on her cellular phone to arrange for a P50-million ransom.

When the ransom negotiations failed, Barquilla said their abductors herded them back into the vehicles and took them to Barangay Bignay in Valenzuela where Wong and Borca were shot in the head at close range.

Barquilla claimed he and Borca were manacled to each other on the way to Bignay.

Barquilla alleged that when it was his turn to be executed, the gun of his would-be killer malfunctioned, and he was left unharmed.

He also told police probers that the killers even returned to the crime scene twice, but still did nothing to him.

A police source said there were several inconsistencies in Barquilla’s story.

For one, they pointed out that Barquilla appeared to have miraculously cut himself loose from the handcuff that tied him to Borca when he allegedly sought the help of local residents in reporting the twin murders to the police.

Responding policemen found the bodies of Borca and Wong by the roadside in Bignay.

The investigators said it was rather odd for the killers to leave unharmed a vital witness to the murders.

"We have received information that Wong and Borca were executed as a warning to the (Cheng) family to quickly hand over ransom next time the suspects snatch one of them," a police official said.

History of Ambot Gang traced

Some of the remaining RSG members regrouped into what was known as "Ambot Gang" led by Frederick Valencia and resumed their kidnapping-for-ransom activities, police said.

A member of the original RSG currently under police detention told investigators that Valencia enjoyed strong ties with certain ranking police officials, particularly members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission which was headed by then Vice President Joseph Estrada.

The informant, identified as Joey Guillermo, turned himself in to clear his name after he was implicated in the previous abduction of Mary Grace and Dionisio Borca Sr., father of the slain policeman.

Police said the elder Borca worked as personal driver and bodyguard of Mary Grace who was allegedly snatched by unidentified armed men at the University of the Philippines, along with Borca and another bodyguard-driver identified as Val Torres.

The trio were released some 15 hours later amid rumors that the girl’s father coughed up P20 million in ransom.

Guillermo also told the police that the Ambot Gang was behind at least nine kidnapping incidents in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, including that of lawyer Jose Sibal who was seized along Roces Avenue in Quezon City in September 1998.

Sibal’s kidnappers demanded P20 million for his release, but agents of the now defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) then headed by police chief now Sen. Panfilo Lacson rescued the victim before the ransom could be delivered.

The PAOCTF agents also arrested nine suspected members of the gang, including Valencia, Guillermo and Rey Sarabia, leader of the Sarabia Gang that joined forces with the Ambot Gang.

The suspects were appropriately charged before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, but Valencia and Guillermo were allegedly dropped as respondents for no apparent reason.

Guillermo and Valencia went into oblivion for some time, until the former turned up as driver-bodyguard of Superintendent James Melad, former of PAOCTF and erstwhile provincial police director for Isabela.

Ebdane said Valencia and his cohorts were also behind the kidnappings of a certain Sobremante in January 1996 in Parañaque City; Malou Carag in July 1997 along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City; Geraldine Ong in October 1997 at Barangay Paltok, also in Quezon City; Agustin Uy in November 1997 in Sta. Cruz, Manila; Clement Velasco on May 10, 1998 along Araneta Avenue in Quezon City; Frederick Mendoza and Remine Ofilas sometime in 1998 along Taft Avenue in Manila.

Police said Valencia’s group has amassed an estimated P55.5 million in ransom payments since 1996.

‘Borca was at wrong place, wrong time’

Borca’s superiors at the WPD clarified that the slain policeman was not working for Wong, but was merely visiting his father who works as a driver for the Cheng family.

"He never worked as a bodyguard of Wong. In fact, he never fails to attend to his night-shift duties at the Sampaloc police station as an operative of the narcotics unit," said Superintendent Amador Pabustan, head of the unit.

Pabustan pointed out that Wong could not afford to hire a bodyguard since she was a mere employee of Uratex, which is owned by her brother.

On that fateful day, the elder Borca allegedly told his son to ride with Wong on his way home.

Meanwhile, police claimed that Wong and Borca could have been saved had her relatives cooperated with investigators about the abduction.

"We tried to verify the abduction, but none of their relatives cooperated," Senior Superintendent Cesar Elenzano rued.

He said a witness reported the kidnapping to the Quezon City police, but Wong’s family members refused to talk to responding policemen. — With reports from Jaime Laude, Pete Laude