Region 1 police director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, former Northern Police District chief, personally turned over yesterday to the NPD the P50,000 cash reward for the recent arrest of gun-for-hire Jorge de Jesus, alias Jorge Tabora and “Boy Demonyo.”
“I am congratulating the NPD leadership and its operatives and the Manila Police District for their cooperation in the capture of Boy Demonyo,” Bataoil said after he handed over the reward to Superintendent Reynaldo Orante, NPD-District Police Intelligence Unit (DPIU) chief.
The turnover of the reward was held at around 10:30 a.m. in the Caloocan City Jail in the presence of De Jesus.
De Jesus pointed to NPD-DPIU operatives Police Officer 2 Roy Anthony Oropesa and PO3 Geovani Fuentes, with Senior Police Officer 4 RodrigoTorio, as the ones who handcuffed him in a bar in Ermita, Manila on July 17.
Bataoil said the cash reward, given by “one of the friends from the PNP (Philippine National Police),” would be given to the tipster who informed the police of De Jesus’ presence at the Ermita bar.
De Jesus is the prime suspect in the failed slay try on Tik-Tik reporter Roger Panizal on Aug. 14 last year in Valenzuela City.
He is also the subject of arrest warrants for murder in Caloocan City; frustrated murder in Valenzuela City; and homicide, attempted homicide and serious physical injury in Manila apart from frustrated murder case for Panizal’s failed slay attempt.
“The capture of the suspect is also the result of the community’s cooperation with the police and as an incentives we are giving the reward,” Bataoil said.
Before transferring to the Police Regional Office 1 (PRO-1), Bataoil personally tasked Orante to hunt down and arrest De Jesus.
Bataoil said he personally delivered the reward because the “wanted to make sure that the arrested suspect is the one hunted down on Panizal’s slay attempt.” He also urged the community to continue cooperating with the police.
PRO-1 policemen are still hunting another member of a gun-for-hire group, identified as Cesar de Guzman alias “Kabisa,” one of the suspects in the ambush-slay of San Carlos City Mayor Julian Resuello before the May 14 elections. – Pete Laude