Mayor denies role in Greenbelt heist

SAN NICOLAS, Pangasinan , Philippines  – Town Mayor Leoncio Saldivar III admitted yesterday that two of the members of the Alvin Flores gang behind the robbery of an upscale watch store in Makati last month were his workers, but he denied involvement in the heist and said the two suspects, who worked in his piggery farm, had gone AWOL.

Saldivar said he is ready to answer allegations of his possible link with the Alvin Flores Gang and the Makati robbery.

“I have clear conscience and I have nothing to fear,” the 35-year-old mayor declared.

Police arrested Dennis Serquinia and Warlito Rodriguito in separate incidents last Saturday.

It was earlier reported that Rodriguito worked as a bodyguard of Saldivar.

Rodriguito surrendered to the police in Tayug, Pangasinan while Serquinia was arrested at his residence in Umingan, Pangasinan.

Police said the .45 automatic recovered from Armando Domingo who was killed during the robbery attempt at Greenbelt 5 mall last Oct. 18 was traced to Serquinia.

Saldivar said Serquinia worked for him for three days in his piggery farm.

According to Saldivar, he could not afford Serquinia so he decided to move him to work as the driver of his father.

Serquinia did not serve long when he figured in an accident while riding a motorcycle.

Rodriguito, on the other hand, worked as a handyman of the town hall until he went AWOL, Saldivar claimed.

Saldivar said he had ordered a check on the unauthorized absence and was later told that Rodriguito was following up his claims being a former soldier.

Saldivar said he again asked someone to check on Rodriguito, but was told that he was sick.

The mayor said only he learned from regional police director Chief Superintendent Ramon Gatan and other police officials that the two had been positively identified as among those who took part in the bloody Greenbelt 5 robbery.

“I told them (police that) I will help them to locate these people,” Saldivar said.

It so happened that Rodriguito’s wife went to him Tuesday and said her husband wanted to surrender.

Saldivar said he sees no effect on his political career on the criminal involvement of his two former workers.

“The people know what I am doing here,” he said.

Although they worked for him, Saldivar said he has no control over their personal activities. “We do not control their thinking,” he said.

Saldivar denied reports insinuating that he was coddling and maintaining the criminal group.

There were other reports suggesting that he was among the “clients” of the criminal syndicate in the effort to raise campaign funds for the 2010 local elections.

“I am not a coddler or maintainer of a robbery holdup gang as earlier reported. Unfortunately the reports came out without the media taking my side (of the story). I will not tarnish the good name of my ancestors,” he said.

Saldivar added he is willing to cooperate with the police to hunt down the remaining suspect in the robbery, a certain Roger Carbonell, who was said to be a resident of neighboring Umingan, Pangasinan.

The fence

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno ordered the investigation of Saldivar.

Puno also tasked Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Jesus Verzosa to relieve Senior Inspector Antonio Malicdan, the police chief of San Nicolas.

“I have requested the chief PNP to first transfer the police chief of the town. So that at least there will be other (police) presence there that can guard against criminals going in and out of the town,” Puno said.

Six of the alleged members of the robbery gang, including its leader Alvin Flores, were killed in a shootout with lawmen in Cebu last week.

Police said six other members of the group managed to escape during the shootout with the raiding lawmen led by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who flew in from Manila to serve the arrest warrants.

The NBI was able to arrest one of the suspects, Rene Batiencela, who was later charged with robbery with homicide before the Makati City Prosecutors Office.

Verzosa added intelligence reports indicated the Alvin Flores gang has at least 30 known members.

Verzosa said they are tracing the involvement of other criminal groups to the Alvin Flores Gang, with the possibility that it was a merger of other syndicates that had been neutralized by police.

“We will be coming up with a link diagram of which we will be able to see and indicate the linkage of the Alvin Flores group with other bank robbery holdup groups especially those who have perpetrated all of these two or three years ago when there were series of bank and armored robberies here in Metro Manila,” Verzosa said.

Verzosa said there is information to show that the Alvin Flores group and the other criminal groups have exchanged men and firearms during past heists.

Verzosa added the PNP is also looking into the involvement of politicians in the Alvin Flores Gang, noting that two of the suspects had been identified with the mayor of San Nicolas.

Sources added the group had “ready buyers” of the expensive watches that became part of the loot of the Oct. 18 Greenbelt 5 robbery.

An NBI official revealed the Alvin Flores gang managed to dispose their loot of expensive watches, mostly Tudor watches, through a fence in Malolos, Bulacan.

An informant who led police operatives in the arrest of the two suspects in Pangasinan also revealed the identity of the supposed fence.

“We were told that the Tudor watches were sold in Malolos, Bulacan and we are trying to identify the fence for the possible filing of charges… as an accomplice in the Greenbelt robbery,” National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Roberto Rosales said.

The informant also told Rosales that he is willing to spill the beans in exchange for the P500,000 reward to the arrest of Alvin Flores.

Rosales said the informant had inside knowledge of the group’s operations that led to the arrest of Serquinia and Rodriguito. –With Mike Frialde, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Sandy Araneta, Non Alquitran, Teddy Molina