Policemen shot dead an alleged member of the Waray-Waray gang and arrested three others during an alleged encounter near the Cartimar Shopping Center in Pasay City late yesterday.
Pasay City police chief Senior Superintendent Marietto Valerio identified the slain suspect as Albert Almedilla.
Rey Fernandez alias “Ranger” or “Yoyong,” was arrested along with two other unidentified suspects, one of whom was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries suffered during the shootout.
Fernandez has standing arrest warrants for robbery.
Valerio said the Regional Police Intelligence Operations Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office has been monitoring the group for some time now.
“We suspect these are the remnants of the Waray-Waray robbery group. There are some of them who have also possible links with the Kuratong Baleleng. They have been operating in Metro Manila and Cavite,” he said.
Valerio said the group targets banks and clients who had just withdrawn large amounts of money in Metro Manila.
Initial investigation showed that police officers were tailing the five suspects, who were in a Starex van (WNS-958) when they received information at around 5:30 p.m. that the suspects were about to stage a robbery in the area.
The police officers, who were in a Mitsubishi Adventure, intentionally bumped the suspects’ vehicle as the latter were about to leave the parking lot of the Cartimar Shopping Center.
This action provoked the suspects into firing at the lawmen, who fired back. None of the policemen who engaged the suspects in a shootout was hurt.
Armalite shells and the van were recovered from the scene.