Cops monitoring coddler of gas station rob gang

Manila Police District (MPD) intelligence operatives are now monitoring the activities of a rookie Manila policeman after he was tagged by arrested members of a robbery gang preying on gasoline stations as their protector.

However, MPD officials temporarily withheld the identity of the officer since no formal charges have been filed against him.

"I have forwarded the name of the subject policeman to the intelligence section so that his activities can be monitored. He may also be relieved from his current post and transferred to the DHSU (District Headquarters Support Unit) for easier monitoring," said MPD officer-in-charge Senior Superintendent Danilo Abarzosa.

The DHSU is the withholding unit of the MPD for members facing criminal and administrative charges.

The name of the policeman was mentioned during tactical interrogation by the Quezon City Police District criminal investigation unit, headed by Superintendent Procopio Lipana, on six members of a robbery gang preying on gasoline stations and convenience stores in Quezon City and Manila.

Two of the suspects were apprehended by operatives of the MPD’s theft and robbery section under Superintendent Rodolfo Llorca at the gang’s safehouse in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Recovered from Edilberto Mañalac, 25, and Larry de Guzman, 31, were a caliber .38 revolver and a fan knife.

The two suspects were positively identified by a cashier of a Petron gas station on Dimasalang street in Sta. Cruz as among the five men who held them up and took P30,000 in earnings last July 5.

According to MPD’s criminal investigation and detection unit chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, the suspects’ revelations cannot be their basis for the arrest of the subject policeman since the admission was extracted without the presence of a lawyer.

The two robbery suspects were among the 60 arrested criminals presented to the press yesterday by Abarzosa.

The arrests were made in line with the MPD’s thrust of lowering the incidence of street crimes, Abarzosa said.