National Capital Region police chief Guillermo Eleazar on Friday dismissed Las Piñas City police commander Marion Balonglong and 32 of his men assigned to the police station’s Drug Enforcement Unit after some of its members got involved in an abduction and robbery-extortion case, even as two gruesome crimes developed in Metro Manila over the last 48 hours.
A policeman was also blamed for the deaths of three members of a family in Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City—including an 11-year-old boy—who were shot in their sleep on suspicion of their house being used as a drug den.
Makati City police are also investigating the case of a chopped body of a female Chinese national found inside her residence in Barangay Bel-Air late Thursday afternoon.
These incidents are in spite of the Philippine National Police reporting on Oct. 29 that the total crime volume in the country dropped by 17.39 percent during the first half of the year, with murders also going down by nearly 30 percent.
Citing data from the PNP Unit Crime Periodic Report, police chief Oscar Albayalde said seven other crimes posted a significant decrease”•homicide by 9.47 percent, physical injury by 33.80 percent, rape by 24.82 percent, robbery by 34.40 percent, theft by 36.90 percent, car theft involving four-wheeled vehicles by 36.30 percent, and motorcycle theft by 26.61 percent.
In Quezon City, Romeo Ado, his wife Christine, and 11-year-old Romeo Junior were asleep when they were shot in the head at close range early Friday, initial investigation revealed.
Their neighbors told GMA News they heard about 10 gunshots. Police Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered seven 9mm bullet shells at the site.
Relatives of the Ados said a policeman, who threatened the family, committed the killing. The victims’ daughter, named Babellyn, said another sibling filed a complaint against the still-unnamed cop after he poked a gun at her several months ago.
The suspect policeman had insisted that the Ado home was being used as a drug den, Babellyn added.
Masambong Police Station Commander Supt. Rodrigo Soriano said the suspect was on foot when he left the crime scene.
In Makati, the Chinese victim was identified as Wang Yalei, 26, temporarily billeted at The Lerato Residence Tower 1, Malugay Street of Barangay Bel-air. Her dismembered body was found inside separate bags around 5:45 pm.
Police identified their persons of interest as Zhang Chuning, 22, also billeted at Lerato Residence Tower 1; and Zhang Cha Quan, Wang Xue and Zhang Yi XI, all Chinese.
Security personnel of Lerato sensed that something happened when they noticed a disposed nylon bag containing bloody clothes, tissues, and bloodied kitchen knife placed at the condominium’s garbage area.
They reviewed the video footage taken by the condo’s closed-circuit television camera and saw the four Chinese nationals carrying the nylon bag coming from Room 1116, where the victim was staying.
The security personnel checked the room and found the four foreigners and the chopped body of the victim.
In Las Piñas, Eleazar ordered the relief of Balonglong and the city’s entire SDEU force after four of its operatives allegedly abducted a suspected drug peddler and demanded money from him.
Those relieved were transferred in a floating status at the Southern Police District-Personnel Administration and Holding Section pending the filing of criminal and administrative charges against them.
Eleazar designated Senior Supt. Simnar Gran, head of the National Capital Region Police Office-Investigation and Detective Management Division, as officer-in-charge replacing Balonglong.
“We are now conducting a thorough investigation on the matter. Actually the entire unit [32 policemen], including the commander of the station drug enforcement unit of Las Piñas, were relieved,” said Eleazar.
Prior to this, four SDEU police operatives—Police Officer 3 (PO3) Joel Lupig, PO2 Vener Guanlao, PO1 Jefferson Fulgencio and PO1 Jeffrey De Leon—were involved in a robbery-extortion case.
The four officers were the subjects of an entrapment operation following a complaint lodged by Shelane Ligutan, 28, a resident of Silang, Cavite, who claimed her brother Cyrus was arrested for alleged possession of illegal drugs.
The police officers allegedly demanded money from Cyrus’ relatives in exchange for his release. The family told the police officers they would be paid in Cavite.
The family then coordinated with the NCRPO and SPD operatives, who arranged and set the entrapment operation, but the authorities were only able to apprehend a 13-year-old boy used by the suspects to run the errand.
Recovered from the boy’s possession were cash money worth P30,000 and a gun replica. The police also seized a grey Yamaha MIO Soul motorcycle without a registration plate, allegedly owned by a certain PO1 Buenaventura.
SPD spokesperson Jenny Tecson said the four policemen are being hunted down, and that the records of three other police personnel being tagged in the crime were being checked.
READ: Task force arrests two cops for extortion
