4 rob suspects linked to 12 more cases

Four robbery suspects recently arrested by the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) are being tagged in at least 12 robberies and burglaries, an official said yesterday.

Suspects Fernando Cagoco, Bernardino Manipol, Angelito Pangan, and Tirso Picardal were arrested at a children’s party in Caloocan City last Sept. 11 based on a tip from an informant, according to Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

They were initially identified by witnesses to be the ones behind the P1.6-million robbery of a CATGas liquefied petroleum gas distribution shop on Visayas Avenue; the P6.5-million heist at the offices of RC Cola and Zesto Cola in Novaliches and the P400,000 pawnshop robbery in Forest Hill Subdivision, also in Quezon City.

Manila police officials also earlier tagged the suspects in the killing of lawyer Alfred Dy after the victim withdrew P1 million from a bank. Two responding Manila police officers were also killed in the incident.

Mabanag also said witnesses have linked the suspects to another robbery at a supermarket in Novaliches.

All of the charges related to these incidents have been filed against the suspects following their arrest.

While the robbery charges are bailable, the suspects remain in jail as the criminal case in relation to the killing of Dy and the two Manila policemen was a non-bailable offense, Mabanag said during an interview yesterday.

“We are also expecting a lot more cases to be filed against them by the other units of the PNP (Philippine National Police),” he said.

Mabanag said witnesses linked the suspects to a heist at a National Food Authority warehouse in Marikina, a supermarket robbery in Valenzuela, a robbery at the office of R&E taxi in Caloocan, a robbery in Taguig wherein a Chinese national was killed, another robbery at an office of Fortune Tobacco in Marikina, a payroll robbery in Manila, two more robberies in Marilao, Bulacan and in Cavite.       – With Jerry Botial