Alleged carjack gang chief’s arrest ends ‘family business’

MANILA, Philippines - The arrest of alleged carjack gang leader Mac Lester Reyes may have shut down his “family business” for good, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) said Wednesday.

Reyes had managed to elude arrest in the past because he reportedly used his teenage son, Mark Joseph, in most of the gang’s hits.

Reyes’ son and wife, Jasmin, were killed in an ambush last February after coming from a court hearing at the Quezon City justice hall. They were in a taxi when they were attacked by still unidentified assailants at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Investigators monitored the wake of Reyes’ wife and son but he was not seen at the wake.

Their group had been arguably the most active of the gangs operating in Metro Manila, having been tagged in the most recent carjackings in the metropolis, according to the police.

Reyes’ arrest in Caloocan on the night of Aug. 13 – his first  – by operatives of the QCPD resulted in the recovery of 10 stolen vehicles and the apprehension of other alleged cohorts.

Reyes was traced to a condominium unit in Caloocan along with his partner, Richelle Sibug. Both Reyes and Sibug are the subjects of arrest warrants for car theft and illegal possession of explosives, a non-bailable offense. 

Among Reyes’ reported victims were Social Security System vice president Alfredo Villasanta in 2011 and actor Arron Villaflor last March, the QCPD said.

The group employed different ruses, from using Mark Joseph, who allegedly started working for the gang when he was a minor; posing as government agents; and having an underling apply as a driver of a prospective victim. 

From driver to boss

Reyes’ alleged venture into carjacking did not come easy – he started as the driver of another gang leader. 

A police official earlier interviewed by The STAR said Reyes had been a driver of carjack gang boss Edwin Madrigal, who was killed in an encounter with operatives of the Highway Patrol Group. 

Eventually, Reyes became associated with the gang allegedly led by his cousin, Bonifacio Salvatierra. The cousins had a falling out, and Salvatierra was arrested in Valenzuela. 

It was supposedly during this period when Reyes formed his own group.

But Reyes did not go far, allegedly employing members of his own family in his hits.

Mark Joseph, then 16, was arrested when his father left him behind when the gang carjacked Villasanta’s Toyota Fortuner in early 2011.

Mark Joseph was arrested again in October 2011 for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, supposedly a non-bailable offense, but he was released since he was a minor.

Another victim had come forward after Mark Joseph’s second arrest in 2011, claiming it was the teenager who, along with two companions, took his Toyota Hi-Lux in Pampanga.

In 2013, Mark Joseph and a certain Christopher Ducot allegedly posed as Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives and forcibly took a Ford Escape in Cubao.

In September 2013, the teenager was again arrested for possession of a stolen Honda Civic. He had apparently posted bail again until his and his mother’s arrest again in Baliwag in December 2013. 

Police said Reyes and Salvatierra had since reunited and merged their operations. 

The cousins were tagged in the taking of the Super Grandia van owned by Villaflor in March, also in Quezon City. The suspects’ faces were also recorded by a surveillance camera at a North Luzon Expressway exit.