Caloocan cop arrested for Navotas heist

A Caloocan City policeman was arrested by his fellow police officers after a robbery victim identified him as one of the two men who robbed her Saturday morning in Navotas.

Police Officer 1 Ruben Baratas, 30, assigned at the Caloocan City police Sub-station 5 on 3rd Avenue in Grace Park, is now detained at the Navotas police station.

At about 10:45 a.m. Saturday, Loise Palileo, 31, a meat dealer in Agora Public Market in Navotas, was walking near her sister’s lotto outlet at the market when she noticed two men trailing her.

Palileo tried to flee inside her sister’s office but one of the suspects grabbed her bag, which contained P270,000 in cash and several checks. She shouted for help.

Richard Fulgadas, a security guard in the market, tried to run after the fleeing robbers but the suspects opened fire at him.

They missed Fulgadas but bystander Mary Grace Bona, 20, was hit by a stray bullet in the buttocks.

The suspects managed to escape with the loot but they left behind their get-away motorcycle, a red Kawasaki with license plate TU-3148.

In a follow-up investigation, the Navotas police showed Palileo their file pictures of robbery suspects, hoping that one of the perpetrators has a police record. Palileo recognized Baratas, who she said was the one who grabbed her bag.

According to Chief Inspector Michael Angelo Zuniga, intelligence chief of the Navotas police, Baratas turned out to be a suspect in an Oct. 28, 2006 robbery in Navotas.

The suspect and his unidentified cohort, also left behind a motorcycle during the said robbery which the police later traced registered to Baratas’ wife, Charon.

Zuniga said that a few minutes before Palileo was robbed, Navotas police beat patrolmen Police Officer 2 Marcos Santos and Police Officer 1 Dominique Dominguez, flagged down Baratas riding in tandem with another policeman on a red motorcycle on North Bay Boulevard South for a traffic violation.

But when the motorcycle riders introduced themselves as police officers, the policemen let them go.

At around 8 p.m., the Navotas police, including Santos and Dominguez, went to the Caloocan City police Sub-station 5 and arrested Baratas.

Baratas surrendered peacefully when he was identified by Palileo and two witnesses.