Six slain bank rob suspects identified

Six of the seven suspected bank robbers killed in a shootout with police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents in Cavite late Friday were identified yesterday.

An initial NBI report said Digoy Canega, Alvin Magora, Marlon Rodejo, Rizal Dy Nepomuceno, Jomar Salandanan and Donil Walter were identified through documents recovered from their bodies. The seventh suspect remained unidentified a day after the shootout, which broke out at the boundary of Biñan, Laguna and Carmona, Cavite.

An eighth suspect, the driver of the getaway vehicle, managed to escape and is now the subject of a manhunt.

Sources at the NBI said Anglee Foods Inc. owner Rosie Lee positively identified them from video footage on television as the ones who robbed them last Friday.

Rosie’s father, Eddie Lee, said their house-factory was ransacked by the suspects early morning of Oct. 1. Eddie was set to give his sworn statement yesterday afternoon at the NBI head office in Manila.

Rosie said armed men in police uniforms entered their house and took a bag containing P50,000, another P10,000 in cash and three cellular phones.

Lawyer Rose Bautista, operations chief of the NBI-National Capital Region (NCR), said the elder Lee identified the yellow Ford Fiera van with license plates PRJ-409 as the same vehicle used by the seven armed men who robbed their factory.

An investigator said the victims were trussed up and pistol-whipped on the head.

After the bodies of the slain suspects were inspected by Scene of the Crime Officers (SOCO) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), investigators found a sketch of a building, including the kitchen, which NBI agents believed would be the group’s next target.

The source said various pieces of paper were also recovered from the suspects, including one bearing the address of RCG Food Corp.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said agents have been tracking the suspects, believed to be members of the notorious Digoy Gang, apparently named after the leader’s alias.

Other reports said the group was known as the Digos gang because most of them had come from Digos town in Davao del Sur. The gang, believed to include dismissed and active-duty soldiers, has been involved in kidnappings, bank robberies and armored van heists.

Lawyer Edmundo Arugay, chief of the NBI-National Capital Region, said NBI agents had been scouring Laguna and Cavite for the suspects after they robbed Anglee Food Products, Inc. in Looc, Calamba City.With proper coordination, Arugay said they managed to trace the robbers’ whereabouts.

Bautista said an informant tipped the NBI of the suspects fleeing in the direction of the South Luzon Expressway.

"Actually the group had been under our (NBI) surveillance for the past weeks, and it was fortunate that an informant reported to us their presence," she said.

Recovered at the site were the van, a 12-gauge shotgun, five caliber .38 revolvers, P20,000 in cash, and cellular phones believed to be part of the group’s loot from the noodle factory.

Upon learning that the suspects were heavily armed and dangerous, Arugay said he decided to call for police reinforcement from Metro Manila police chief Director Avelino Razon Jr., who sent personnel from the Regional Special Action Unit (RSAU).

The robbers opened fire at the pursuing lawmen, triggering a gunbattle when police cornered them near the Colegio de San Agustin and the Southwoods Golf and Country Club in Carmona, Cavite.

Wycoco commended Arugay’s men and the RSAU agents for a job well done. — With Rene Alviar