Superintendent Simon Fernan, Northern CIDG chief, identified the suspects as Celso Albos, alias Maco Albos, of Barangay Buno-anan, Catbalogan, Samar; Jessie Soyosa of Barangay Tanghas, Tolosa, Leyte; and Jaime Magno of Cabanatuan City.
Also arrested was a 12-year-old boy of Letre Road, Barangay Tonsuya, Malabon City, who was charged with attempted murder.
The boy was arrested on Feb. 15 at his residence by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Emmanuel Laurea of the Malabon City Regional Trial Court Branch 169.
The boy’s relatives, however, are urging the authorities concerned to reinvestigate the case claiming that aside from being a minor, the charges filed against the young suspect were inappropriate.
The boy is now jailed with common criminals at the Malabon City jail, his relatives claimed.
Albos, wanted for the 1998 killing of SPO4 Reynaldo Legaspi in Bacoor, Cavite, was arrested over the weekend by CIDG men, led by Senior Inspector Frances Gordon and PO3 Dandie Bonita with the help of Leyte authorities at a mountainous village in Catbalogan, Samar.
Judge Edgardo Israel Tanguangco of Bacoor, Cavite RTC Branch 89, issued the warrant for his arrest. He was in hiding for the past six years.
Magno, 40, who was convicted and sentenced for 17 years in prison for killing his neighbor in 1987 in Cabanatuan City, was arrested on Feb. 15 at his lair in Dagat-Dagatan, Caloocan City.
"His (Magno) fellow convicts have already served their respective sentences and now it’s his term to be in prison," Vher Torres, Northern CIDG civilian agent, said.
Soyosa, being hunted by the authorities for the March 9, 2003 robbery in Tanigue street, Caloocan City was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Amelita Angeles of Caloocan RTC Branch 121 in Tolosa Leyte.
Fernan said that the suspects’ arrest was part of the Northern CIDG’s flagship project – Oplan Pagtugis – an intensified campaign aimed at arresting criminals long wanted by the police.–Pete Laude