Vigilantes kill 3 suspected criminals in Pasig

MANILA, Philippines - After a nearly two-year lull, three suspected robbers were killed – apparently by a group of vigilantes – in a span of hours since Saturday, police said yesterday.

Police said they do not know the identities of these vigilantes, who reportedly started summarily executing criminals based in the city since Mayor Robert Eusebio was elected in 2007.

Like in previous killings, the vigilantes placed a piece of cardboard identifying their victims as criminals and a warning that people should not follow their example.

The latest spate of killings brought to at least 10 the number of alleged criminals summarily executed in Pasig City in the past three years, a police official said.

The body of the latest victim was found in front of the Palmdale Condominium in Barangay Pinagbuhatan at 5:55 a.m. yesterday. The body bore stab wounds and a piece of cardboard warned onlookers that the victim had been a robber.

The victim was described as a 5’5” tall man with a medium build and aged between 30 and 35 years old. He was clad in a red shirt and denim pants.

Barely four hours earlier, three men shot dead Antonio Mangundayao Jr., 26, at a store in Barangay Manggahan.

When Mangundayao fell to the ground due to a gunshot wound in the head, one of the men placed a sign atop Mangundayao’s body, warning the public that the victim was allegedly a robber and a drug pusher.

At about 4:10 a.m. Saturday, the first of the “salvage” victims was found at a vacant lot along Eusebio street in Barangay San Miguel. The body bore several stab wounds, and a sign placed on his body stated he was allegedly a robber and that criminals are unwanted in Pasig City.

The victim was described as a short-haired man aged between 30 and 35 years old and wearing a blue shirt and denim pants.

When Director Leon Nilo de la Cruz was the head of the Eastern Police District (EPD), he arrested a suspected vigilante who yielded a caliber .45 pistol and a cardboard sign similar to the ones left on the bodies of slain suspected criminals.

But the suspected vigilante was ordered released by a prosecutor in Pasig City.

De la Cruz now heads the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based in Camp Crame.

The EPD and the local police said they found it hard to solve the vigilante killings because of the absence of witnesses.