Another cop tagged in EDSA ‘hulidap’

MANILA, Philippines - Another policeman was charged yesterday in connection with the EDSA “hulidap” last Sept. 1 even as the number of suspects identified in the crime has risen to 12.

Senior Inspector Alan Emlano, who has been absent without leave from the Northern Police District since January 2013, was charged with brigandage and kidnapping with illegal detention with the Mandaluyong City prosecutor’s office just before 4 p.m., according to investigators at the Eastern Police District (EPD).

Eight other police officers, two of whom have been arrested, and a dismissed policeman have been charged for the alleged highway robbery and kidnapping of Camal Mama and Samanodin Abdul Gafur, who are employees of a contractor in Lanao del Sur.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima has ordered the Internal Affairs Service to take disciplinary action against the nine policemen linked to the incident, PNP public information office director Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac said.

EPD investigators said there are 12 persons involved in the crime, including a still unidentified man and woman.

Only Chief Inspector Joseph de Vera and Police Officer 2 Jonathan Rodriguez, both of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) are in the custody of the Mandaluyong City police.

EPD director Chief Superintendent Abelardo Villacorta said Rodriguez claimed that Emlano was the one who commandeered the white Toyota Fortuner of the victims, ABS-CBN reported.

Villacorta said Emlano was also identified by the two victims as one of the policemen who forced his way into their vehicle and took their P2 million, which they were supposed to use to buy equipment for their employer.

The other policemen, who remain at large, have sent surrender feelers, QCPD director Chief Superintendent Richard Albano said, who added that he has sent teams to arrest them.

“They will be arrested anyway, so it is better that they surrender,” he said in an interview.

The others who remain at large are Senior Inspector Oliver Villanueva; Police Officers 2 Weavin Masa, Ebonn Decatoria, Mark de Paz and Jerome Datinguinoo and Senior Police Officer 1 Ramil Hachero.

De Vera was deputy commander of the QCPD Station 1 while Villanueva was head of the same station’s intelligence and investigation branch. The QCPD Station 1 covers the La Loma area.

Masa, Decatoria, De Paz, Datinguinoo and Hachero also belong to QCPD Station 1 while Rodriguez is with the QCPD’s Public Safety Battalion. Rodriguez was with the same station until he was reassigned last July.

Albano has ordered his teams to disarm the seven policemen and confiscate their badges once they are arrested.

The ninth suspect tagged in the case is dismissed Inspector Marco Polo Estrera.

Clean records

The eight policemen in active service implicated in the kidnapping along EDSA had clean records, save for an administrative misconduct case filed against De Vera – who received PNP medals, some for merit and efficiency, 31 times.

A check of the policemen’s personal data sheets showed that none of them had previously been charged criminally or administratively.

Estrera, formerly with the PNP Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force, was dismissed in 2006 after being arrested for an extortion attempt on drug suspects.

Estrera, De Vera and Villanueva are all members of the Philippine National Police Academy Class of 2001.

The youngest of the eight active police officers, Datinguinoo has only been in the police service since 2009. He is only 28 years old.

De Paz has only been in the police force since 2008. He turns 29 in October.

Decatoria and Masa could also be considered relatively young in the profession, having been policemen since 2007 and 2008, respectively.

The oldest of the policemen implicated in the case, Hachero has been in the police force since 1993.       – With Cecille Suerte Felipe