Monday, July 07, 2008 Barias foresees decline in robbery, kidnap
NATIONAL Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Geary Barias has predicted a decline in robbery incidents and kidnapping for ransom activities in the coming months following the neutralization of the Fernandez Robbery-Kidnap for Ransom group in Pasay City last Friday afternoon.
Barias said the neutralization of Fernandez group was part of the all-out war campaign being pushed by the NCRPO to eradicate notorious crime groups operating in Metro Manila.
He warned other crime groups that more similar operations will be conducted against them and that it will not take long before the Philippine National Police (PNP) has completely made Metro Manila an unsafe place for criminal syndicates.
Barias added that the Fernandez Group has been in the PNP's order of battle and that the authorities have been tracking the group for sometime until the search ended in a shooting incident that resulted in the death of one of the members of the group.
He identified the fatality as Albert Almedilla, a native of Bohol province, while those who were arrested were identified as Roy Fernandez, Pascual Mata and George Avila.
Barias said the neutralization of Fernandez Groups has prevented the plan of the group to rob a branch of Maynilad Water Services along Taft Avenue, Pasay City.
He explained that the successful operations stemmed from information provided by an informant about to the plan of the group to rob Maynilad Water Services Inc.
On Friday, at 1:45 p.m., a gold Starex van bearing license plate number WNS 958 was seen suspiciously parked in front of the office of Maynilad Water Services along Taft Avenue, Pasay City.
At 5:30 p.m., after the operatives have acquired confirmation that the vehicle is the one being used by Fernandez Group, the operatives armed with court warrants for their previous crimes in Cavite proceeded to arrest the group.
Sensing that the cops were watching them, the suspects tried to extricate themselves but the police authorities followed them. The shootout ensued when the suspects refused to surrender and instead fired their weapons at the chasing policemen. The shootout ended with the death of Almedilla.
NCRPO spokesperson Rhodel Sermonia said the Fernandez Group was tagged as the one responsible for the series of bank robberies in Cavite, Bohol province, the armored van robbery in Montalban, Rizal and the payroll robbery in Manila.
The group was also involved in the abduction of Ryan Yu in an exclusive school on August 19, 2005, in Bambang, Sta. Cruz, Manila, where P2.9 million cash and assorted jewelry were paid as ransom for the release of the victim.
Police authorities also tagged the group in the armored van robbery in Yazaki, Imus, Cavite where more than three million was carted and one escort guard was killed, said Sermonia.
Police recovered from the suspects an M-16 rifle, one .9 mm pistol and one .45 mm caliber pistol and assorted ammunitions. (VR/Sunnex)
