Padilla carjack gang stole 15 cars since June - NCRPO

MANILA, Philippines - At least 15 luxury vehicles were allegedly stolen at gunpoint by suspected carjack gang leader Ivan Padilla and his reported cohorts in Metro Manila and nearby provinces since June, police said yesterday.

Superintendent Maristelo Manalo, head of the anti-carjacking unit of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said they were able to recover five of the stolen vehicles while the 10 others are now the subjects of recovery operation.

Manalo said he believes the killing of Padilla and the arrest of three other alleged gang members would most likely result to the reduction of car theft cases in Metro Manila.

“We are now in the process of accounting at least nine other gang members, including four women who helped them spot their potential victims,” said Manalo.

According to Manalo, they are coordinating with other law enforcement units and police districts to determine whether Padilla’s gang also stole luxury vehicles in other areas of the country.

In a television interview, Manalo said among the vehicles they recovered from Padilla’s gang were a Toyota Camry owned by former finance secretary Roberto Romulo, a Volvo of the father of actor Derek Ramsey, another Toyota Camry used by the vice president of Toshiba Philippines and a Toyota Vios forcibly taken from its owner, a call center agent.

The suspects also yielded a rocket-propelled grenade, a hand grenade, a .9mm pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .22 caliber revolver, and a replica of an Armalite rifle.

The NCRPO has filed car theft and illegal possession of firearms charges against suspects Dale Alimagno, Glenn del Castillo and Mark Inducil. Alimagno and Del Castillo admitted they belong to Padilla’s car theft gang while Inducil denied having anything to do with the group. Inducil claimed he was Padilla’s close friend and had been seeing him almost every day but was not aware of his reported car theft activities.

Alimagno and Del Castillo were arrested during an NCRPO operation in Filinvest in Quezon City where Romulo’s car was recovered while Inducil was with Padilla during a shootout in Makati City.

The killing of Padilla is being investigated separately by the Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) amid allegations that the gang leader was “summarily executed.”

Earlier, NCRPO chief Director Leocadio Santiago ordered Manalo and his 14-man team “confined to their office” and made themselves available before the IAS and CHR once properly summoned.

Manalo said Alimagno, Del Castillo and Inducil are cooperating fully in their effort to arrest other gang members and the recovery of their stolen vehicles.

Inducil verbally admitted that Padilla engaged the NCRPO agents in a five-minute running gunbattle, which also resulted to the damage to the windshield and hood of Manalo’s Toyota Fortuner.

According to Inducil, he and Padilla came from a shabu sniffing session in Anabu in Cavite City prior to the shootout.

For his part, Alimagno claimed that Padilla, while still alive, vowed ‘to fight if out in the end” once being cornered by policemen out to arrest him.

“Palaban talaga ‘yang si Padilla (Padilla’s a fighter),” Manalo quoted Alimagno as saying.