.45-caliber pistol used in Southern Tagalog killings

MANILA, Philippines - A .45-caliber pistol recovered from a slain robbery suspect on March 18 was used in the killing of the traffic chief of Tanauan City, Batangas early this year and seven other robbery cases involving motorcycle-riding suspects in Southern Tagalog, police said yesterday.

Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr. considered the ballistic results conducted on the .45-caliber Norinco pistol retrieved from robbery suspect, Alvin Espinosa.

Espinosa was killed in an encounter with elements of the Tanauan City police following a foiled robbery in Gonzales street, Poblacion 3 on March 18.

Espinosa yielded the .45-caliber Norinco pistol with serial number BA24891-09-246.

Pagdilao said cross-matching of slugs and empty shells in shooting incidents in the Calabarzon area showed that Espinosa’s gun was one of the firearms used in the murder of Nonilon Natividad, 59, chief of the Calamba City Traffic Management Office who succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds after being waylaid by riding-in-tandem suspects last Feb. 4.

Citing ballistic examinations conducted by the Regional Crime Laboratory (RCL), Pagdilao said that evi­dences obtained at shooting incidents involving riding-in-tandem suspects have resulted in a positive cross-match with the .45-caliber pistol retrieved by elements of the Scene of the Crime Operatives from Espinosa who was killed during a robbery holdup incident in Tanauan City.

Aside from the slaying of Natividad, Pagdilao said the same Norinco pistol was used in the February robbery holdup along Gov. Carpio Road, in Poblacion, Sto. Tomas, Batangas with victims identified as Dominador and Digna Mendoza; the attempted robbery holdup in General Luna street, Barangay Sabang, Lipa City with victim Janet Ilagan; and the robbery with homicide cases in Barangay San Roque, San Pablo City, Laguna, with victims identified as Manolo Moreno and Maria Luisa Landicho. The last two incidents both occurred on Feb. 11, 2010, first in Lipa City and then San Pablo City.

Pagdilao also said that the same pistol was used by the suspects involved in the March 2, robbery holdup along Palikpikan street near Paz street, Barangay District 4 in Balayan, Batangas with victim identified as Alvin Alaras and the robbery with homicide case that occurred the following day along the National Highway, Barangay Quilib Rosario, in Batangas with victim identified as Merlita Licup.

Pagdilao said that except in the robbery-holdup in Tanauan City, all suspects involved in the previous cases were still unidentified.

In the light of the result of the ballistic examination, Pagdilao ordered that the case officers and investigators in the seven shooting incidents be included in the multi-unit investigative team that the Calabarzon has created to investigate crimes involving riding-in-tandem suspects.