Friday, September 19, 2008 Choke gangs roam nighttime Baguio By Ernie N. Olson, Jr.
THREE persons fell prey to robbery gangs while walking home to separate areas of Baguio, within a span of only a few hours last Tuesday night and past midnight on Thursday.
While all three crimes were perpetrated by what police believe to be different gangs, an initial investigation of these incidents indicated they used the same modus operandi of choking their victims first, before robbing them of their belongings later.
The three victims were identified by the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Wednesday as Donald Pagdawan Magadi, 37, married, a carpenter from Banao, Bauko, Mountain Province, who resides here at Liteng, Pacdal; Richard Gabling Paday-os, 28, single, a security supervisor of Baguio's Finest Security Agency, who lives here in Middle Quirino Hill; and June Cayabas Ray, 16, single, a student and resident here of Purok 5, Balsigan.
Only in the robbery involving Magadi was a suspect arrested, after the latter was chased and collared by covert police intelligence operatives, who were conducting a roving patrol in front of the rice section of the Baguio public market at the time.
Alex Dominguez Coop, the arrested robbery gang member, is 18, single, a jobless resident here of Lower Quirino Hill, who hails from Bana-ao, Tadian, Mt. Province.
Magadi was walking in front of the rice section along Upper Magsaysay Avenue, when five men blocked his path at around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
After two of the gang members held on to his arms and announced the heist, their three other cohorts forcibly took the P400 cash kept in his pants' front right pocket, then fled on foot towards an undisclosed direction.
However, this was noticed by covert intelligence operatives of the BCPO, who chased and arrested Coop, while his four cohorts managed to elude arrest with the stolen loot.
After his arrest, the gang member was subsequently detained in the Baguio City Jail on robbery with violence charges, upon the instructions of duty inquest Prosecutor Ramsey Wynn Sudaypan.
Early Thursday, while Paday-os was walking home along the alley stairway leading from Upper Camdas Subdivision to Middle Quirino Hill, he was followed by two still unidentified robbery gang members, who choked him, then hit him on the head with a hard object, causing him to lose consciousness.
While unconscious, they stole his Sony Ericsson K810i cellphone worth P10,000, his Golf Shock wristwatch valued at P3,500, professional driver's license, Land Bank automated teller machine (ATM) card, P1,200 in cash and his light grey travelling bag containing his security uniform, clearances, diploma, transcript of school records, company identification card and security logbook.
After the two robbery gang members fled on foot towards an undisclosed direction, the victim was brought to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center emergency room by concerned citizens.
June Ray was also walking home beside the City Library along Kisad Road, when three still unidentified robbery gang members wearing black jackets and bonnets appeared from the dark, before one of them choked him on the neck.
After that, his two other cohorts forcibly took his Nokia 3315 cellphone valued at P2,000, his coin purse containing P650 cash and his backpack containing notebooks, before they fled on foot towards an undisclosed direction.
According to the BCPO, all three crimes were still undergoing follow-up investigations, as of press time Thursday.
