Raps filed vs Tondo vigilante group

MANILA, Philippines -  The Manila Police District (MPD) filed criminal charges yesterday against the leaders and members of a barangay peacekeeping action team tagged in drug-related vigilante killings.

The MPD leadership admitted that the Confederate Sentinel Group (CSG), whose members are barangay peacekeepers in Tondo, is accredited with the police as a non-government auxiliary group.

Alfredo Alejan Jr., Marco Morallos, Manuel Murillo, Barangay 105 councilman Michael Sibucao, Ricardo Villamonte and his brother-in-law known only as Onic were charged with murder, grave threat and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition before the city prosecutor’s office.

The CSG was allegedly responsible for the death of 16-year-old Charlie Saladaga in Tondo.

Alejan, Morallos and Murillo were arrested when police raided a barangay outpost at the Aroma Temporary Housing along Road 10 in Tondo on Wednesday.

The three admitted their involvement in the disappearance and killing of drug suspects.

Sibucao and Villamonte, tagged as the brains of the group, have gone into hiding, according to case investigator Police Officer 3 Rodel Benitez.

Murillo confessed to police that they killed Saladaga on orders of Villamonte.

Saladaga’s parents pointed to Murillo as one of the persons who picked up their son at the corner of Capulong street and Road 10 on Jan. 1.

The following day, Saladaga’s body was found stuffed in a sack and floating along the breakwater of Isla Puting Bato in Tondo. He bore a gunshot wound to the face.

Chief Insp. Rozalino Ibay Jr., chief of the MPD intelligence operating unit, said they have launched a manhunt for the other members of the group who remain at large.

MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Napoleon Coronel announced in a press conference that the CSG was accredited with the police community relations group as a peacekeeping force in Tondo, according to directorial staff chief Senior Supt. Bartolome Bustamante.

The CSG members are not allowed to carry firearms and conduct anti-illegal drug operations, police said.

Authorities said they received information that the group is only a chapter of a bigger organization involved in community service and there are other CSG chapters in other barangays in Tondo.