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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
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ILOILO City – The Philippine National Police (PNP) is playing down the abduction of two call center agents at a mall in Mandurriao district as an “isolated case.”
“We did not promise a crime-free city because we can’t read the minds of people,” said the defensive spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 6, Superintendent Gilbert Gorero.
Early this week, Gorero said it was the police’s goal to keep the city free from “major crimes” for the duration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings.
Following the abduction, however, he said the “major crimes” he spoke about referred to those that could possibly happen to ASEAN delegates only.
Gorero stressed that the incident was not related to the ASEAN meetings.
The crime was carried out at the parking lot of the mall a few blocks away from the Iloilo Convention Center, venue of the ASEAN meetings.
“The incident would not affect our security plans. There are no security threats,” according to Gorero.
He also said the abduction could not be considered a “major crime.”
In a previous interview, he claimed that “thousands” of policemen were mobilized for the ASEAN meetings.
“We have men to secure the venue of the meetings, the roads and hotels where the visitors are staying,” said Gorero. “Guests have nothing to fear because security remains tight.”
Each ASEAN meetings visitor has close-in security, he added.
The city police director, Senior Superintendent Remus Zacharias Canieso, was ordered to confer with the mall’s management regarding their parking area security measures, said Gorero.
Days before the start of the ASEAN meetings on Monday, Gorero said PRO-6’s security preparations included posting policemen on streets, malls, hotels, and restaurants among many other places where people usually converge.
In the case of the mall where the abduction happened, policemen were detailed in front and inside of the mall, said Gorero.
The abduction victims were call center agent Marc Ymel Jocson, 22, of La Paz district and his 24-year-old girlfriend from Barangay Hibao-an, Mandurriao. They had just boarded Jocson’s white Ford Everest at the parking area when three men threatened them with a gun and pushed them to the backseats.
Hours after the abduction, a former seafarer with a pending rape charge, the 22-year-old Sirius Jim Villareal, was arrested in Barangay Puerto Princesa, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo.
His companions, 22-year-old security guard Reymund Cordero and 36-year-old Robert Tingson, were caught, too. Both were residents of Barangay Amamaros, Pototan, Iloilo.
The suspects tied the woman’s hands and her boyfriend’s hands and feet using a duct tape. Both were blindfolded, too.
The suspects took the couple to northern Iloilo. The woman later found the chance to escape and seek help in Barangay Poblacion, Banate, Iloilo./PN
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