Batangas cops kill 4 in RCBC follow-up operation

TANAUAN CITY, Batangas – Police have killed four suspects in the robbery of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch in Cabuyao, Laguna last Friday in which 10 people were murdered.

The police team leader, Senior Police Officer 1 Reynaldo Salazar, was wounded in the alleged shootout, and is recuperating at St. Cabrini Hospital in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

Provincial police commander Senior Superintendent David Quimio told The STAR that Pepito Magsino, Angelito Malabanan, Rolly Lachica and former barangay captain Vivencio Javier, alleged members of the Lucido-Javier-Galicia robbery-kidnap/gun-for-hire gang, were killed in separate encounters in Tanauan City last Wednesday and yesterday.

“According to an intelligence report of Task Force RCBC, it’s possible that the suspects in the RCBC massacre fled and hid here in Tanauan, that’s why we conducted surveillance in the area until our men encountered the suspects,” he said.

However, Batangas police authorities said they have yet to ascertain if the slain suspects were indeed involved in the Cabuyao robbery.

“But we still have to verify if this is the same group that did RCBC,” an official said.

After the shootout, police arrested two other suspects, Louie Autria and Allan Tapia, along Barangay Pagaspas, according to Superintendent Archie Macala, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Batangas chief.  

Two Armscor 145 pistols were seized from them and they were charged with illegal possession of firearms, he added.

Quimio said policemen from Task Force RCBC were on surveillance in Tanauan on Wednesday afternoon when they chanced upon Magsino and a shootout ensued.

Magsino was killed, while Salazar sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the body, he added.

At around 12:40 am of Thursday, Task Force RCBC policemen encountered Javier, Malabanan and Lachica in Barangay Pagaspas, who shot it out with the authorities.

Police recovered a hand grenade, a Glock pistol and a Winchester rifle from the suspects.

The RCBC has put up a P1-million reward, bringing the total bounty to P2 million for the arrest of the suspects in the bloody robbery.

Aside from RCBC’s offer, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. and Laguna Gov. Teresita Lazaro each pledged P100,000 for the bounty.

Senior Superintendent Aaron Fidel, head of Task Force RCBC, said a total of P800,000 was offered by various sectors, which expressed concern and outrage over the murders.

Initial investigation showed security guard Baltazar Aguilando, who was killed in the robbery, had entered in his logbook the names of several people who introduced themselves as policemen.

The RCBC branch is located at the Laguna Industrial Science Park in an isolated area surrounded by vacant lots and an open field.

MPD hunts down cop killers

Manila police director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales warned yesterday the killers of two policemen that police will get them “dead or alive.”

“These people (suspects) are armed and dangerous,” he said.

“We will also be armed to the teeth. Well, I am not issuing a shoot-to-kill order. But the thing is, we will get them dead or alive.”

Speaking to reporters after a command conference with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim at City Hall, Rosales said he would deal with the suspects in a “language they understand.”

“This is one thing that I would tell them, we will talk in the language that they understand,” he said.

When asked to explain what he said, Rosales replied, “You have to read between the lines.”

Police Officer 3 Jose Ysmael Santos and Police Officer 2 Francisco Neri were slain while responding to a hold-up in which P1 million was taken from the victim who was killed after withdrawing money from a bank in Manila last Monday.

Rosales said police have already identified four of the six suspected killers of the policemen.

“And in due time, we will be able to name all including the two other cohorts,” he said.

“Hopefully with the efforts that we are doing, we will be able to get the suspects.”

Rosales said the police are continuing efforts on a 24-hour basis to track down the suspects based on information they have received.

“If they will be found guilty, and if the law says they have to die through lethal injection or electrocution, so be it,” he said.

The search for the whereabouts of the suspected killers of the policemen would include checking into their personal lives, their girlfriends, and places where they hang out.

“I expect the full cooperation of the MPD in the search and subsequent arrest of the cop killers,” he said. “Drop everything and concentrate on tracking them down.”

Lim proposed to Rosales to seriously consider recruiting policemen who are either residents of Manila or born in Manila to establish a deeper networking system.

“If our cops were born and live in Manila, there is affinity, there is malasakit,” he said.

“They will be more than willing to stick out their necks for family and friends and this will redound to the higher interest and welfare of our city residents.”

Lim urged Rosales to revive the tradition of discipline and camaraderie among Manila policemen and to come up with unorthodox means of fighting criminality.

“I give you full autonomy,” he said. “You have my full trust and confidence. Just get the killers and criminals and get them now.” — With Ed Amoroso, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Sandy Araneta