Another cop linked to P’panga kidnap

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Police are tracking down another policeman implicated in the kidnapping of a Mabalacat resident last Wednesday.

In a report here to Chief Superintendent Ismael Rafanan, Central Luzon police director, Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, Pampanga police director, identified the new suspect as PO3 Alberto Dizon, a member of the Angeles City Traffic Enforcement Group.

Espina said Senior Inspector Jomarie Basa, an intelligence officer of the Mabalacat police who was tagged as the kidnapping mastermind, is still at large.

Two other suspects, PO2 Darwin David, a Mabalacat policeman, and Robert Canda, said to be a police civilian "asset," were arrested during an entrapment operation at a pizza parlor in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City.

The suspects seized Mabalacat resident Randy Ocampo last Wednesday morning and demanded a P100,000 ransom in a text message to his brother-in-law, Miller Capil.

While the ransom negotiations were going on, the group brought Ocampo to a farm in Barangay San Pedro, Magalang town.

The group later reduced the ransom to P40,000 and instructed Capil to bring the money to the Angeles City pizza parlor.

Canda was caught in the act of receiving the ransom, while David was arrested in a follow-up operation. Both tagged Basa as the mastermind.  

Police said Basa subsequently released Ocampo Wednesday afternoon.

Espina said Basa and Dizon are now the subjects of a joint manhunt by the Pampanga police and the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Division. 

He said charges of kidnapping for ransom have been filed against the four suspects.