Manila, Caloocan cops join hands vs criminals

For the first time, Manila and Caloocan City police officers set up joint checkpoints at the boundary of the two cities, a ranking Manila police official said.

“The efforts of the two police forces are paying off well. There is a considerable drop in crime incidents in my area of jurisdiction since it is very easy to track down criminals in Manila who ran to Caloocan City and vice versa owing to the standby forces of the two police districts,” said Jose Abad Santos station chief Superintendent Remigio Sedanto, who thought up the scheme.

In his meetings with 77 barangay chairmen in his area of responsibility, Sedanto learned that most of the criminals tend to go to Caloocan City and Caloocan City criminals go to Manila to escape arrest.

But with the joint efforts of both police districts, criminals have nowhere to hide, he added.

At the same time, Sedanto arrested dismissed Manila policeman Jessie Caragdag for allegedly being the brains of the warring street gangs in Tondo. “With his arrest, the True Brown Style fraternity has lost their so-called godfather,” he said.

He also vowed to clear his area of the illegal drug trade reportedly being managed by a certain “Ric Taga.” Sedanto raided the alleged safehouse of Taga at the so-called “Airport” in Tondo and found out that the suspect had already fled.     – Nestor Etolle