Cop faces ax for driving stolen SUV

MANILA, Philippines - A Northern Police District (NPD) policeman is facing dismissal after he was charged for driving a stolen sport utility vehicle (SUV) in Muntinlupa City, Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima said yesterday.

Police Officer 1 Argel Nabor, assigned with the NPD’s District Public Safety Battalion; and his companion, Roberto Relayo, have been charged before the prosecutor’s office in Pasay City, where the vehicle was reported to have been carjacked.

“The policeman is facing possible summary dismissal proceedings after being arrested while driving a stolen SUV,” Purisima said.

In his report to Purisima, Highway Patrol Group (HPG) director Chief Superintendent Arrazad Subong said Nabor was driving a black Toyota Hilux (TOG-340) with Relayo as his passenger when they were intercepted by members of the Regional Highway Patrol Unit-National Capital Region (RHPU-NCR) during an anti-car theft operation along Daang Hari in Muntinlupa on Oct. 31.

Superintendent Manaranay Lopez, acting RHPU-NCR chief, said the suspects were flagged down because they had no 2013 registration sticker, the license plate the car bore was suspected to be fake and they allegedly used a siren illegally.

Subong said the car was registered to Jerome Santos of Tondo, Manila and its official license number was KIN-31. It has been included in the HPG watchlist since it was stolen at gunpoint from driver Sonny Boy dela Peña by three men in front of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Sept. 17.

The license plate attached to the SUV when it was being driven by Nabor was assigned to a Toyota Hilux owned by ATA Clara Power Corp., Subong said.

Nabor and Relayo are being held at the RHPU-NCR detention cell in Camp Crame.