Hot cars, owners reunited at Crame

Intensified operations by the Philippine National Police-Traffic Management Group (PNP-TMG) has led to the recovery of 194 stolen motor vehicles from July to September this year.

Seventeen of the recovered vehicles were formally turned over to their grateful owners by PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane in Camp Crame yesterday.

According to TMG director Chief Superintendent Danilo Mangila, the intensified operations also resulted in the neutralization of two car theft syndicates, the arrest of 49 suspected car theives and the filing of 38 criminal cases in court.

Mangila said eight car theft syndicates are still actively in operation. However, he is confident that two of these syndicates will be soon neutralized before the year ends. He declined to name the syndicates, citing operational reasons.

Returned to their respective owners were three Honda CRVs, three Mitsubishi Adventure vans, a Toyota Tamaraw Revo, an Isuzu Crosswind, four Toyota Hi-Ace vans, a Toyota RAV4 sports utility vehicle, a Mercedes Benz van, two Mitsubishi Lancer sedans, and a Hyundai Grace van.

According to Superintendent Benilito Bianzon, TMG assistant director for operations, vans and SUVs manufactured by Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi are now considered as hot items by theives.

European cars, on the other hand, are being spared since these expensive vehicles are difficult to sell. Car thieves also shy away from vehicles with automatic transmission, Bianzon said.

Vehicle owners who got back their cars and vans yesterday expressed their gratitude to the police.

"I am happy for the recovery of my van. As for the thieves, there will surely be a place in hell for them," said Enrique Santiago, who got back his silver Honda CRV.

Santiago said his nephew was driving the CRV (WAZ-175) when it was flagged down at gunpoint by five men wearing police uniforms last May 2 just as the vehicle left Santiago’s house in San Fernando, Pampanga. Santiago’s nephew was later dumped at the megadike by the suspects.

Santiago’s CRV was later recovered by TMG agents in Angeles, Pampanga with new license plates (WRS-499) attached. He later learned that the plates formerly belonged to a cement mixer truck in Olongapo City. Police also found several license plates inside the CRV’s compartment, including a government plate (SFH-110).

Interestingly, Santiago’s van had been used by the suspects in taking the Toyota Revo of businessman Larry del Rosario last August.

Del Rosario easily recognized the silver CRV as the one used by the suspects, again wearing police uniforms, in taking his Revo at gunpoint.

The businessman recounted how the suspects blindfolded him and his two companions then later drove them away. From the boundary of Caloocan City and Mecauayan, Bulacan, where they were flagged down, they were dumped by the suspects in Bamban, Tarlac. The suspects remained at large, police said.

Ebdane likewise thanked vehicle owners for immediately reporting the theft of their vehicles to the police.

"We were able to recover these vehicles because of your assistance. If you had not trusted the police, your vehicles would not have been recovered," he said.