4 cops, ‘asset’ caught with ‘salvage’ victim

CALAMBA CITY — Four Southern Police District (SPD) policemen and a civilian asset were arrested here while they were about to dispose of the body of a "salvage" (summary execution) victim shortly after midnight Thursday.

Superintendent Edmund Zaide, city police chief, identified the four lawmen as PO2 Cenon Carolina, assigned with the Guadalupe detachment of the Makati City police; PO2 Marcelino Taduyo and PO1s Reynaldo Saronel and Ramil Marqueta, all with the Pasay City police, and the civilian asset as Carolina’s elder brother Pablito.

"What they did was plain and simple murder that warrants the imposable penalty of death as provided under the law," said an angry Director Ricardo de Leon, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office.

"Summary execution is taboo in a civilized society and it is never tolerated in the police service," added De Leon, who ordered summary dismissal proceedings against the four lawmen.

Chief Superintendent Prospero Noble Jr., SPD director, has placed the four law enforcers under six-month suspension.

A police patrol apprehended the four policemen and the civilian asset after finding a handcuffed body lying on its side inside their L-300 van parked on an isolated road in Calamba Hills, Barangay Baradas at about 12:05 a.m. the other day.

Investigators said a nylon rope was still looped around the neck of the man described to be about 5’5" tall and clad in a shirt and walking shorts.

Noble said the victim, a certain Gilbert, was a suspected robber and allegedly killed a colleague of the four lawmen when he responded to a holdup a few years ago.

Police believe that the suspects’ group could also be behind other victims of "salvaging" in the area where they were apprehended. Two days ago, the remains of an unidentified man were also dumped there.

Police seized two caliber .45 and two 9-mm. pistols from the suspects.

Bernardo Calibo, personnel and administrative director of the National Police Commission, hinted that other people may be involved in the "salvaging."

"This may just be the tip of the iceberg... In any conspiracy to commit murder, very often there are other people involved than those directly caught with the body," he said.

De Leon has directed Superintendent Rogelio Damazo, head of the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division, to dig deeper into the case to determine if the immediate superiors of the four lawmen were involved. — With Christina Mendez, Ed Amoroso, Arnell Ozaeta, Evelyn Macairan and Non Alquitran