After foiled robbery 4 suspected gun-for-hire group members arrested

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines —  Police on Tuesday caught four members of a gun-for-hire group following a foiled robbery attempt in Escalante City, Negros Occidental Tuesday.

Chief Inspector Robert Mansueto, Escalante City Police Station chief, identified the arrested suspects as Robert Castellano, 28, of Himamaylan City; Bonifacio Palabrica Jr., 19, Escalante’s 5th most wanted person; Melvin Cases, 27, also of Escalante; and Jerry Balbuena, 37, Escalante’s 4th most wanted person.

They were allegedly members of the Palabrica Group, a 12-member gun-for-hire group, which was responsible for robbery-holdup cases and killings in the first district, Mansueto said.

Mansueto said the suspects targeted the cashier of the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation-Project Dungganon, identified as Jocelyn Gatilogo of Binalbagan town, who had just withdrawn P400,000 from a bank at around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Gatilogo was riding a motorcycle while the sling bag containing the cash was carried by her driver-companion, Castellano, who was later identified as accomplice of the suspects.

Mansueto said it was a “pre-arranged hold-up” as Castellano was slowing down so the other suspects, who were also on another motorcycle, could catch up with them at Barca Street in Barangay Poblacion, Escalante.

The riding-in-tandem suspects, Palabrica and Cases, then grabbed the bag from Castellano and sped away, but they hit a curb after making a turn on a street corner, causing their motorcycle to fall on its side.

Gatilogo who were just behind them, along with Castellano, alighted from the motorcycle, grabbed the bag, and ran, but one of the suspects came after her and drew his gun. Some bystanders reacted and came to the rescue of Gatilogo, prompting the suspects to leave the scene, without the money.

Mansueto said Castellano was however acting suspicious when the police asked the latter to recount the incident, and to submit his cellphone.

The police later found that all of Castellano’s text messages were between him and the other suspects, from the planning and execution of the robbery. They also found the P100,000 was kept in the utility box of Castellano’s motorcycle.

Two hours after the incident, Mansueto set an entrapment for the other suspects, texting them by pretending to be Castellano asking for a meeting with them at Barangay Mabini in Escalante, but this did not push through after the suspects sensed they were surrounded by policemen.

Mansueto tried again for another meeting at 5 p.m., this time at Barangay General Luna in Toboso town. The suspects, who still thought they were texting Castellano, finally came only to realize they were set up. They tried to escape but they were cornered by the police.

By 10 p.m., the fourth suspect, Balbuena, was apprehended while hiding at Sarromar Subdivision in Barangay Poblacion 1, Sagay City. He was hiding at the pile of galvanized roof sheet, and could barely walk when arrested after squatting for more than an hour, said Mansueto, adding that charges were already filed against the four detained suspects.

Meanwhile, the Comelec-Negros Occidental office said it has been monitoring the reported presence of gun-for-hire groups in the province. Provincial elections supervisor Jessie Suarez said: “We have received raw information on their presence and we will discuss this with the police and the military to make proper actions.”

Suarez described these groups “mercenaries,” which have been selling their services to the highest bidder. “They are for the money, and vulnerable to be hired by anybody, possibly by politicians during the elections. We have to monitor these groups to preempt their being aligned with political groups,” he said.

“Most of them are inactive members of uniformed personnel and election time is money-making time for them,” Suares said, adding that included in the monitoring is the 5th district of Negros Occidental, which incidentally was not included in the list of election hotspots in the province.

The 5th district consisted of Himamaylan City and the towns of Hinigaran, Binalbagan, Isabela, Moises Padilla, and La Castellana. (FREEMAN)