BACOLOD CITY ,Philippines - At least 23 luxury vehicles, reportedly stolen in Metro Manila and other parts of the country, were recovered by the PNP Highway Patrol Group during its recent anti-carnapping operations in Negros Occidental.
The recovered vehicles were presented by HPG director Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina to PNP Chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome who was in this city as speaker of the graduation of the PNP Special Counter Insurgency Operation Unit Training at Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr. last Friday.
Bartolome commended the HPG for the recovery of the stolen vehicles through its intensified and renewed drive against car theft syndicates.
He said the recovery of the 23 stolen vehicles in Negros Occidental and six others in Cagayan de Oro was the biggest accomplishment of the HPG in recent years.
With the recovery of the stolen vehicles, Bartolome believed the HPG crippled the operations of the syndicate, which sells these cars to unsuspecting buyers.
Espina said the shipment of the stolen vehicles from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao had became rampant after the dismantling of the HPG inspection units fielded in key ports of the country in 2001.
With the re-installation of HPG inspection units in various ports, however, the shipment of stolen vehicles to various areas in the country will now be minimized, if not totally stop, he said.
The syndicate reportedly sold these luxury vans and sport utility vehicles at 50 percent of their original price, said Espina.
Bartolome said that, upon his assumption as PNP Chief, he was ordered by President Benigno Aquino III to enhance the HPG anti-carnapping operations, and this in turn had resulted in the recent recovery of the vehicles.
Carnapping incidents in the country have dropped by 56 percent from January to March this year, compared to the same period last year, HPG records showed.
Espina attributed the decrease to the relentless campaign of the HPG that had neutralized 27 carnapping and hijacking groups.
Bartolome said he wanted to unmask the identities of individuals in some government agencies who were allegedly in cahoots with carnapping syndicates.