The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) has identified the six robbery suspects who were slain in an alleged shootout with policemen Sunday night.
The alleged leader of the group is a policeman from Manila, Police Officer 1 Lino Acedera, who was once charged with kidnap for ransom.
The QCPD believes that Acedera and his group may be linked to recent bank robberies.
“This is a one big criminal syndicate based on the evidence we recovered... I commend the QCPD for this accomplishment,” Metro Manila police chief Director Geary Barias said during a press conference yesterday.
QCPD director Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula said among the items recovered from the six suspects were high-powered guns, hand grenades, a hammer, a metal saw, packaging tape and a gallon of gasoline.
Gatdula said they will compare these items with the evidence gathered at the scenes of recent robberies in Metro Manila and nearby areas, such as a brutal robbery-homicide incident in Talayan Village in Quezon City last week, in which the suspects killed their victims before they set the house on fire.
QCPD deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Frederico Laciste Jr. said it is possible that the suspects had links with those who staged the brutal massacre at the RCBC-Cabuyao branch, noting that one of the suspects – Mauro Lerpido – was a resident of Laguna.
Aside from Acedera and Lerpido, the suspects also included Franklin Violeta and three still unidentified men.
The police said the suspects were killed during a shootout against the QCPD-District Police Intelligence Operating Unit led by Superintendent Alex Sintin at past 9 p.m. at the corner of Agno and Cordillera Street in Barangay Doña Josefa last Sunday.
Before the encounter, a resident in the area called up the QCPD-DPIOU and reported that a black Honda Jazz (ZEJ-867) and a silver Mitsubishi Gallant (THD-918) were suspiciously roaming the stretch of Agno street.
Responding policemen attempted to flag down the vehicles but the passengers in both vehicles opened fire, resulting in a gunbattle.
The driver of the Honda Jazz, who was alone in the car, was killed instantly but the five others inside the Mitsubishi Gallant continued firing their weapons in an attempt to escape toward D. Tuazon street.
The vehicle rammed a Mitsubishi Adventure, at which point the policemen ordered the suspects to peacefully surrender and lay down their arms. But the five remaining suspects again opened fire, prompting policemen to retaliate.
At the height of the gunfight, five policemen – SPO3 Jack Miranda, SPO2 Emmanuel Apostol, PO3 Allan Abraham, PO1 Sandro Sotto and PO1 Ronald Tangilan – were hurt and brought to hospitals for treatment.
Among the guns recovered from the suspects were an M-16 rifle, an interdynamic machine pistol, an M1 carbine, a .45 caliber pistol, and a home-made .38 caliber handgun, said Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.
Inspector Angelo Nicolas, chief of the QCPD’s Anti-Carnapping Section said a check revealed that the license plates attached to the Mitsubishi Gallant were intended for a white Mitsubishi Lancer that was never registered since 2004.
Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., chief of the QCPD’s Theft and Robbery Section, revealed that Acedera had been arrested in the past for kidnap for ransom.
Pedrozo, who used to head the General Assignments Section of the Manila Police District, said they were the ones who arrested Acedera in 2002. He said Acedera served time in jail but was eventually released and even went back into the service after the victim was “bullied” not to pursue the charges.
Barias said the neutralization of the group led by Acedera “could have prevented bigger robbery incidents in Metro Manila.”
As for erring policemen like Acedera, Barias said the National Capital Region Police Office will conduct a counter-intelligence check on its police personnel.
“This should serve as a warning to our policemen that we’ll give them the maximum penalty (should they be engaged in criminal activities),” Barias said.