MPD tags masterminds in rob-slay of bank client, 2 cops

The Manila Police District (MPD) is eyeing a robbery gang composed of former military and police officers as behind the rob-slay of a lawyer and the subsequent shooting of two responding policemen in Paco, Manila Monday morning.

The group, based in Cavite province, reportedly robbed moneychanger shops then moved on to bank clients, according to a police source.

MPD investigators released yesterday the photos of Juanito Boton and Edmund Mendoza, who were identified by witnesses as among the six suspects in the rob-slay.

Mendoza reportedly uses the aliases of Gilbert Collado and Baby in the gang’s operations.

The STAR learned that Boton, a former Marine officer, was arrested by the Manila police in 2006 together with his cohort, Pedro Rodica, the leader of the notorious “Rodica Gang” responsible for a series of heists on money exchange shops.

Prior to their 2006 arrest, Boton and Rodica had a pending warrant issued by Judge Nina Antonio-Valenzuela of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 28 for robbery. The two men also have pending cases at various courts for robbery with intimidation, illegal possession of firearms and robbery with homicide.

Boton reportedly was able to post bail despite a number of pending cases, while Rodica was initially snatched from his jail escort by several armed men in Ermita, Manila on Dec. 12, 2007.

Rodica was caught by the Quezon City police last April 13 in Oriental Mindoro. However, he was again “rescued” allegedly by his gangmates while being escorted to the Quezon City Jail by three policemen. There are unconfirmed reports that Rodica is dead, as Boton took over as the gang’s leader.         

As this developed, Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. ordered posthumous promotions for slain Police Officer 3 Francisco Neri and PO2 Jose Ismael Santos, both of the Ermita police station.

Razon acknowledged the heroic deeds of the two Manila policemen who gave up their lives in the line of their duties.

Neri and Santos rushed to the corner of Pedro Gil and Merced streets in Paco after hearing the shots fired by the suspects who robbed lawyer Alfred Dy of the P1 million he had just withdrawn from a nearby Banco de Oro branch.

The lawmen were killed when they engaged the suspects in a shootout. Bloodstains were noted on one of the two motorcycles abandoned by the suspects at the corner of Anakbayan and Quirino streets in Paco, indicating that one of the suspects may have been shot during the firefight.

Neri’s remains will be buried today at the South Cemetery in Makati while Santos will be interred today at the Manila North Cemetery. Both men will be given a hero’s burial, according to Manila Police District director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales.