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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Saturdsy, August 19, 2017
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ILOILO City – Ten suspected members of a swindling syndicate operating nationwide were arrested in Barangay Alacaygan, Banate, Iloilo after a widow in San Jose, Antique alerted the police.
Aside from money, however, the police also seized shabu and guns from the suspects – six men and four women.
The 72-year-old Silveria Bondoc of Barangay 8, San Jose complained to the police she was tricked into exchanging several pieces of her prized jewelry for a bagful of what turned out to be worthless paper cutouts the size of peso bills on Thursday.
Luckily for Bondoc, her jewelry – save for one – were among the items that the Banate police recovered from the Budol-budol Gang suspects who were cornered at CRCI Beach Resort.
Swindling, however, is just one of a string of criminal complaints that would be filed against the suspects.
Shabu, guns, ammunitions, and an improvised explosive device were also recovered from them so they would be charged with violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, too.
From Banate yesterday, the following suspects were transported to San Jose police station for detention and filing of charges:
- Honey Sumagaysay, 60
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Cayroding Abdul Salam, 31
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Latip Datumanong, 33
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Elena Licauan, 57
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Rosque Prior, 50
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Obqien Villablanca, 54
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Leny Dela Cruz, 60
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Danny Ortiz, 40
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Jeremias Bayotas, 69
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Rogelio Feliselda, 27.
That these suspects were natives of various places indicated their group was operating on a wide scale, police said.
Sumagaysay, Salam, Datumanong, Licauan, and Prior were residents of Barangay San Andres Bukid, Manila.
Villablanca and Dela Cruz were from Tagum, Davao del Norte while Ortiz, Bacugray and Feliselda were from Davao del Sur.
According to Chief Inspector Juvy Cordero, San Jose police chief, the suspects befriended Bondoc at the San Jose public plaza and passed themselves off as members of Jehovah’s Witnesses. One of them identified himself as “Engineer Mike Cabrera.”
“May gin-mention sila name nga kilala sang victim (Bondoc). Daw kilala sang father sang victim. Siguro na– surveillance nila,” said Cordero.
The suspects initially targeted Bondoc’s bankbook and automated teller machine card “galing wala man natigayon kay offline,” according to the police chief.
The sweet-talking group then cajoled the victim into giving up her jewelry for a supposedly large sum of money kept in a bag.
From what the police gathered, the suspects also “toured” their victim around for quite some time in one of their vehicles.
“She was told to open the bag only when she reached her house. When she did, what she saw was not money but paper cutouts,” said Cordero.
The San Jose police was alerted. The family also sought assistance from a relative, a retired police general, Cordero added.
A review of security camera footages in the area proved valuable. Cops knew right away the two vehicles that the suspects were using – a black Honda Starex with plate number AAF-7068 registered in Region 10 and a maroon Mitsubishi Montero without a plate number.
All municipal police stations in Antique and Iloilo were notified and teams were mobilized.
According to Banate police station commander Chief Inspector Jojo Tabaloc, his men spotted the two vehicles at CRCI Beach Resort around 10 p.m. on Thursday.
Hours after confirmation came from the San Jose police that those were indeed the target vehicles, the suspects were arrested.
Recovered were P24,000 cash, 13 sachets of shabu, two .38 revolvers with ammunitions, pieces of jewelry, 11 mobile phones, 41 pieces US dollar bills in different denominations, an improvised explosive device, digital weighing scale and other drug paraphernalia.
Tabaloc said the suspects reached the Caticlan jetty port in Malay, Aklan via roll on, roll off vessel from Manila on Thursday then proceeded to San Jose.
He believed the suspects have local contacts scouting for potential swindling victims.
All the suspects denied they were members of the Budol-budol Gang. They claimed they were in Antique and Iloilo on a tour.
Tabaloc said the group is constantly mobile; it does not stay long in an area to avoid detection.
He believed the shabu recoveries were for the suspects’ personal consumption “para mag-isog sa paghimu sini nga butang.”
“The group recruits members and trains them. They’re also into snatching and have youngsters for members,” said Tabaloc./PN
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