President Arroyo issued this stern warning yesterday as Philippine National Police (PNP) officials presented to her at Malacañang three policemen and two civilian cohorts arrested on Friday on charges of kidnapping-for-ransom, robbery and car theft. .
"Because criminals have no place in the police service, the police must be more severe with the men and women in its ranks," the President said. "The uniform is not a protective shield against justice and the law."
She stressed that the PNP, in fighting criminality and corruption, has to purge its own ranks "because there are rascals in the police who give the whole police a bad name."
PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. presented the five suspects to Mrs. Arroyo at Malacañang hours after they were captured in a dragnet set by the newly created Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER).
The suspects were identified as Superintendent Virgilio Jose, chief of the General Service Office of the PNP Maritime Group; SPO1 Gonzalo Gultiano and PO3 Sergio Bendoy, also of the PNP-MG, and Gaudencio Espibon and Marlu Amora, both civilian agents of Jose’s unit.
"I believe this is the highest ranking police officer (Jose) that we arrested and it shows the strong resolve of our PNP leadership headed by General Ebdane to clean up the ranks," the President said.
She added that with strong cooperation between the police adn the civilians, "there are better chances for criminals to get justice they deserve."
The PACER operations also led to the rescue of the six victims identified as Ernesto Aringay, Rosalinda Garcia, Virginia Catipco, Rosque Priuor, Arlene de la Cruz and Rodolfo Saspa, all of Cavite province.
Investigations showed that the victims were on their way to Manila to attend a birthday party when their vehicle was blocked by a red Toyota Corolla car in Barangay Talaba in Bacoor town in Cavite.
Three men got off the car and at gunpoint, commandeered the victims’ vehicle.
Along the way, the holdup men, who had introduced themselves as policemen, divested the victims of cash totaling P35,000, cell phones and valuables.
Not contented with the loot, the holdup men demanded P100,000 in exchange for their freedom.
The gang then split the victims into two groups awaiting delivery of the ransom money.
One group was held inside their commandeered vehicle which was parked near the Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City while the others were taken to Mandaluyong City.
A relative of one of the victims who was contacted by the gang to deliver the ransom reported the incident to the PACER.
Ebdane said Jose himself showed up to pick up the ransom money at a specified place in Cubao, Quezon City.
He was promptly arrested and the PACER agents found Aringay and Garcia inside Jose’s car, a red Toyota Corolla with license plates USL-990.
Follow-up operations resulted in the rescue of the four remaining victims and the arrest of the four other suspects near the Hotel Rembrandt.
Police confiscated from the suspects P35,000 in cash, three handguns and three cellular phones, the victims’ wallets and pieces of jewelry.
In her State of the Nation Address on July 22, the President said the fight against criminal is one of the major thrusts of her administration.
Since then, she has often appeared in presentation at Malacañang of arrested suspects in heinous crimes. — Marichu Villanueva, Jaime Laude