Binay employee, 2 others identify 'Salisi' gang members

MANILA, Philippines - Three complainants, including a staffer of Vice President Jejomar Binay, have identified the arrested “Salisi” gang members as those who victimized them of at least P1.5 million in separate occasions last year.

Eastern Police District (EPD) director Chief Superintendent Miguel Laurel said more complainants are showing up to pin down the suspects, whom he described as “notorious and in and out of jail.”

Laurel noted that the suspects were using different names apparently to mislead police investigators and for them to post a low bail.

“Each time they are arrested, they gave a new name so that investigators will conclude that it was their first strike and be lenient with them,” Laurel said in an interview.

The three victims refused to be named but they positively identified the suspects during a confrontation at the EPD headquarters recently.

Suspects Melania Masadlak, 54, Joan Goho, 32, and Jean Pamalias, 35, were arrested after stealing the shoulder bag of Maria Veronica Kalaw, 41, a chemist at the Ortigas Commercial Center last Aug. 23.

In their police mug shots, Pamalias gave her name as Mitch Lopez, Masadlak as Miriam Gullon, and Goho as Leah de la Paz.

The fourth suspect, Nora Ascaño, was nabbed after she brought Kalaw’s bag to the EPD annex headquarters along Meralco Avenue, in Barangay Ugong.

Senior Inspector Oscar Mansibang, EPD criminal investigation unit chief, said they received a report that Masadlak, Goho, and Pamalias were collared by policemen on March 23, 2011 for taking the valuables of a foreigner identified as Faisal Abdul Salem Almarsooqi at a hotel in Manila.

Laurel said he is now coordinating with other police units to get the true identities of the suspects.