2 teens collared for robbing cop’s condo

Three male suspects are now in custody of the police for allegedly robbing a condominium unit of a police official in Ermita, Manila of cash and valuables worth at least P645,000 on Monday.

One of the suspects, aged 16, was, however, ordered remanded by an inquest fiscal to a youth center for being a minor. Another suspect, Ivan Ocampo, 20, was ordered arrested based on positive identification by the 16-year-old suspect. The third suspect, a 19-year-old, was nabbed by the police yesterday in a follow-up operation. However, right after the inquest proceedings, the 16-year-old suspect retracted his first statements to police and said that Ocampo is innocent of the charges and that he only implicated him out of fear from the police official.

According to Chief Inspector Benigno Macalindong, chief of the theft and robbery section, police Superintendent Clifford Gairanod of Camp Crame and his brother Al Jose were robbed of P500,000, a DVD camera, two cellular phones and assorted jewelry inside their 18th floor unit at the Pearl of the Orient Condominium along Roxas Boulevard in Ermita.

Jose said he was returning to his condo past 4 p.m. when he met the 16-year-old suspect coming out of his unit. He said he held the youth and brought him inside where he found out that his bedroom had been ransacked. According to the youth, his companions were in another room while he was being led by Jose to the security office, making a clean escape of his cohorts.

During interrogation by Superintendent Gairanod, the suspect named his accomplice as a certain “Richard” whom he will meet at a gas station along the Macapagal Highway for his share of the loot. At the agreeed place, the suspect pointed to Ocampo who was then inside a Mitsubishi Adventure van together with seven young companions. Despite Ocampo’s denial, the suspect insisted that he was “Richard” who was his accomplice in the robbery.

“This (suspect) is a consistent liar. He concocted the story and implicated an innocent person,” Macalindong said, adding the suspect will make a supplemental sworn statement to bail out Ocampo from the robbery case.

The young suspect also named his real companions in the robbery, including their leader.