Arrested suspect belongs to gang of lawbreaking cops — QCPD

A policeman arrested for carjacking and other criminal activities in several parts of Metro Manila is a member of the Doce Pares gang, police revealed yesterday.

The gang had been behind a rash of robbery cases in eastern Metro Manila last year, but shifted to carjacking to earn easy money, said Superintendent James Brillantes, intelligence chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

During tactical interrogation, PO2 Arnold Adto admitted membership to the Doce Pares gang

"He belongs to a big-time criminal syndicate whose members are mostly active policemen assigned in various units of the Philippine National Police," Brillantes told The Star.

Adto was arrested last Wednesday by combined QCPD and Bulacan police operatives at the Bocaue exit of the North Expressway on board a Five Star bus that was bound for his hometown in Capas, Tarlac.

When presented to Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol, Adto claimed his seizure of a green Toyota Land Cruiser (UND 510) owned by one Fernando Lorenzo last March 6 was a legitimate operation.

But Querol stressed that Adto had no right to conduct anti-carjacking operations because he was assigned at the Regional Headquarters Service Group (RHSG) the base police unit of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Brillantes claimed Adto earned P40,000 for the said "operation."

He said Adto turned over custody of the vehicle to the Traffic Management Group (TMG). A police captain was the alleged contact person of the Doce Pares gang at the TMG, Brillantes added.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Gaerlan, Marikina police chief, said they are looking into reports that Adto was with alleged Doce Pares gang leader, PO2 Joel Tapec, when they confiscated Lorenzo’s vehicle.

"The description given us by witnesses on the man with Adto at the time fits Tapec," said Gaerlan, noting that the two rogue cops came from Capas, Tarlac.

Tapec went into hiding following a series of robberies carried out by the gang in eastern Metro Manila and Rizal province last year.

According to Brillantes, several cartographic sketches of the suspects in carjackings were a match.

The last carjacking operation staged by Adto and his group was on March 29, when they shot and seriously wounded driver Rogelio Bayaw, 33, for refusing to hand over the keys of his maroon Toyota HiLux (RAP 114) along Mindanao Avenue.

Adto and his two companions abandoned the said vehicle in Barangay Talipapa, Novaliches after as they were being chased by elements of the QCPD mobile division.

Brillantes said Adto was also positively identified by Necita Orijuela and her driver, Oliver Engco, as one of the suspects in the carjacking of her black Toyota Fortuner last Mar. 25 at the corner of Del Monte and Matutum streets.

Orijuela and Engco positively identified the 9mm pistol, which was recovered from Adto at the time of his arrest, as the gun used during the carjacking .

"Both the car owner and driver identified the firearm through its stainless receiver and barrel," Brillantes said.

He said car theft charges were filed against Adto before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office last Thursday. Assistant prosecutor Reuben Veradio recommended bail at P240,000.

Brillantes said, Superintendent Jack Joaquin, head of TMG-Region 3, claimed Adto and his group were also behind the carjacking of a Honda CRV in Malolos, Bulacan last March 25.

"It appears that there are people ordering vehicles and the group is able to deliver the units being sought," Brillantes said.

The illegal activities of the Doce Pares gang were revealed after they shot dead one-year-old Erica Charlene Guevarra during a P100,000 robbery operation in Cainta, Rizal last Sept. 14.

Guevarra was seated on the lap of her mother when hit by a bullet in the head. She died while being rushed to a hospital.

Witnesses identified Tapec as one of the suspects in the Guevarra case, but he eluded arrest.

However, his three companions — PO1s Candido Vallejo, Roel Palana and Roger Villarente — were arrested and are now behind bars.