Saint Arnold Janssen YCC

MANILA, Philippines - At least 20 heavily armed robbers wearing police and military uniforms tried to rob a Union Bank branch in Caloocan City at around noon yesterday but fled empty-handed when four of the bank’s security guards engaged the suspects in a gunbattle.

Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Jude Santos said that apart from a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver of security guard Camus Briccio Jr., the armed men “got nothing from the bank.”

Santos said at least 20 men armed with M14 and M16 rifles and .45 caliber pistols barged into the Union Bank branch at the corner of Urbano Plata street and EDSA using the back door, guarded by Briccio.

“The suspects looked more like Army troopers and they entered the bank with blazing guns,” Santos told The STAR, adding that most of the gunmen used bulletproof vests, with some wearing military paint on their faces and others wearing bonnets.

Santos said the bank was closed because it was a Saturday, “but they seemed to know that a large sum was inside,” adding that the branch is the “cash center and the main depository of all Union Bank branches in Caloocan and Quezon City.”

Santos said the bank’s main vault could not easily be forced open because “it has three layers of safety locks.”

Some of the suspects disarmed Briccio of his shotgun and revolver while the others went to the second floor of the building, where the cash center and the main vault are located.

But the armed men were surprised when four security guards at the second floor of the building engaged the suspects in a gunbattle.

“The suspects… left after around 10 minutes of (firing shots) without them gaining ground,” Santos said. None of the bank’s guards were hurt as they positioned themselves behind the walls.

As the suspects fled on board three vehicles toward Quezon City, they stopped to rob a nearby adjacent Caltex gas station and disarmed its lone security guard of his .38 caliber revolver.

Witnesses told the police two of the getaway vehicles were Toyota Revos, one white and the other blue, but none of them was able to jot down the vehicles’ license plates. The third vehicle’s type was undetermined.

“I suspect they were members of the notorious Alvin Flores rob gang because of their modus operandi… They are now more daring and they grew in number,” Santos said.

He said that it was also the first time that the suspects used an M14 rifle in their operation. Police recovered shells for M14 and M16 rifles and for .45 caliber pistol at the crime scene.

Northern Police District director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr., who was conducting a safety seminar for the NPD reporters at the police station during the botched rob try, directed Santos to dig deeper into the case.

- By Pete Laude (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines – Some members of the Davao police are actually “involved” in the death squad behind the vigilante killings in the city, Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila de Lima said yesterday, citing “confirmed information.”

But according to De Lima, they are having a hard time convincing their assets to come out against these rogue policemen.

“We have confirmed information that there are certain police officers in Davao who are involved in the death squad,” De Lima revealed during a dialogue with Quezon City policemen yesterday afternoon.

“We are 100 percent morally convinced that the killings in Davao are something that is really organized,” the CHR chairperson added.

According to De Lima, their informants have given them the names of the Davao policemen, numbering to more than 10 and even including some station commanders in Davao, whose participation in the killings allegedly range from ordering the attacks to actually firing the shots at the victims.

De Lima refused to drop names of the Davao policemen at the moment.

“We recorded their (informants’) statements and the names they have given. It will form part of our report,” she said.

According to De Lima, they are working on a “breakthrough” before they conduct their next public hearing that she said is something to “watch out for.”

To stress the veracity of the CHR’s information, De Lima said their informants had “personal knowledge” of the killings, with some of them being former members of the death squad.

De Lima mentioned of “patterns” that point to the allegation that some policemen in Davao were involved in the death squad.

She cited that most victims had “petty criminal records” and were minor aged.

“The assailants are motorcycle-riding men with the attacks staged in broad daylight,” she added.

Apart from this, she said that in most cases of killings in Davao, the response of the local police was belated even if some incidents happened near a police station.

De Lima also said that in most instances, there were many people actually seeing the incidents but would eventually not come out as witnesses to the killings to implicate the suspects.

Because of this, De Lima admitted that it has been a “challenge” for the CHR to convince their informants to come out.

“There should be an honest to goodness witness protection program and at present the CHR has no capacity for that,” she said, noting that coming out to testify on the part of their assets would strengthen the case against the implicated Davao policemen.

De Lima said that since the public hearings they conducted recently, there has been a significant decline in the incidents of killings.

“Some say the death squad is just laying low. I hope that’s not the case,” she said. - By Reinir Padua (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)