Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, chief of the WPD Mobile Division, said a Western Police District police car was cruising near General Luna and Beaterio Streets at about 1:30 p.m. when officers spotted the suspects’ white Kia Besta van (WBA-343).
The officers tailed the van after recognizing that it was the same vehicle used in abducting a bank employee in Malibay, Pasay City.
Sapitula said the suspects detected they were being followed and sped off toward General Luna Street. The suspects then turned left towards Beaterio Street but was blocked by a SWAT team.
A brief firefight then ensued. Declared dead on the spot after sustaining bullet wounds was suspect Gerardo Boluso, 32, of Console Villa, Bayanan, Bacoor, Cavite. Another suspect, an alias Junior, was wounded and was taken to the Ospital ng Maynila.
Arrested were Michael Bautista, 40, of Zapote, Las Piñas City; Ramil Zafra, 35, of Biñan, Laguna; Boyet Ramos, 28 of, Sto. Nino Village, San Pedro, Laguna; and Joseph Indfio, 25, of Pag-Asa, Las Piñas City.
Seized from the suspects were two caliber .38 revolvers, a hand grenade, and two plastic 9 mm gun replicas.
The arrested suspects were presented to President Arroyo, Philippine National Police chief Hermogenes Ebdane and Metro Manila police chief Reynaldo Velasco by WPD director Pedro Bulaong at the WPD headquarters yesterday.
Sapitula said the suspects abducted Richard de la Cruz, 30, an employee of the Bank of Commerce, Roxas Boulevard branch along the Domestic Airport Road in Pasay City.
Initial investigation showed that the suspects, introducing themselves as members of the Camp Crame-based Criminal Investigation and Detection Group accused De la Cruz of being a drug trafficker.
The victim was then forced inside the suspects’ Besta van. He was made to remove all his valuables, including two ATM cards, which were placed inside a large envelope.
The suspects took De la Cruz to Vito Cruz Street, where they withdrew the victim’s cash from a Trader’s Royal Bank ATM machine. The suspects then took him to Intramuros where they tried to withdraw cash from a Metrobank ATM. It was there that a WPD police car noticed them. – Mike Frialde