3 cops eyed in kidnap gang chief’s slay

MANILA, Philippines - Three Quezon City policemen wanted for the 2014 EDSA “hulidap” case are wanted again for their alleged involvement in the ambush on alleged kidnap gang leader Rolly Fajardo in Laguna in June, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.

Marco Polo Estrera, Jerome Datingunioo and Mark de Paz were charged with murder in connection with the killing of Fajardo and his driver, Thomas Andaya, before the Calamba prosecutor’s office.

They were also charged with attempted murder for wounding Fajardo’s bodyguard, Marceliano Batan Jr.

Fajardo was shot dead in Laguna on June 24. He, Andaya and Batan were cruising along in Barangay Bagong Kalsada in Calamba at about 7:30 p.m. when a group of heavily armed men waylaid their Audi.

Batan survived after shooting it out with the assailants.

The attack, which the NBI’s death investigation unit described as “very orchestrated,” was caught by surveillance cameras. NBI investigators obtained a copy of the footage.

NBI special investigative services chief Jun de Guzman said the motive for Fajardo’s ambush is still under investigation.

Arnold Rosales, who heads the NBI’s anti-organized transnational crime group, said Fajardo was not in jail as the kidnapping cases filed against him, except for one still pending in Quezon City, have been dismissed.