Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Gang arrested inside Mactan-Cebu airport
CEBU CITY -- The Police Center for Aviation Security (PCAS) arrested Sunday morning three armed men believed to be members of a kidnap-for-ransom gang or hired guns at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Also arrested was a man who went to the PCAS office Sunday night seeking the release of the three suspects by posing as a military confidential agent. He used a bogus identification card.
Airport authorities and the military believe that the three suspects were out to kidnap a foreigner at the domestic arrival area. The police, though, are considering the possibility that they were out to assassinate a cabinet official.
The incident came barely a month after officials announced that the MCIA was safe, to allay a top anti-terror official's fears that Philippine airports were vulnerable to attacks.
Security at the international facility is critical this year, with Cebu hosting the Asean summit in December.
Ronald Dando Pepino, 24, was accosted at the arrival area, while Jessie Rueras Pepino, 34 and Richard Gulfan Orayan, 31, were arrested inside a car when they tried to rescue Ronald. But two others -- a man and a woman -- jumped off the car and fled.
A pistol was found on Ronald, while heavy firearms and ammunition were found in the car.
Crisologo Peña Puzon, 33, was arrested when he intervened on the behalf of the three suspects.
They are now detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.
Airport General Manager Adelberto Yap believes that the suspects were members of a kidnap-for-random syndicate about to snatch someone, a suspicion he said the Military Intelligence Group (MIG) 7 members shared.
Yap ordered an investigation on why the armed group was able to enter the airport premises and the arrival area with their firearms, despite a checkpoint near the weather station, and at the door of the arrival area.
Seized from the three were an M-16 rifle, two .45 pistols, five magazines a .45 pistol, two magazines for M-16 rifle, 47 pieces of live ammunition for .45 pistol and 60 pieces of live ammunition for M-16.
Also confiscated were four cellular phones and fake IDs of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP), Philippine National Police and military. Impounded was a Luzon-registered Mazda vehicle, with plate number URZ-817, that Orayan drove.
In his investigation report to Yap and Major Bonifacio Pusta, airport police officer-in-charge Corporal Clomel Pontil of the Airport Police Division said the armed men showed IDS as members of the MIG 15 and mission orders for their firearms.
The suspects were apparently looking for someone while passengers of PAL flight number PR-843 from Manila were disembarking.
PCAS investigators brought the four yesterday to the prosecutor's office for inquest proceedings, on illegal possession of firearms. Charges of usurpation of authority are also being readied against the two Pepinos and Puzon.
PCAS investigator PO2 Marvin Bolic said that at 10 a.m. last Sunday, airport security spotted Ronald, with a gun tucked under his waistband, at the arrival area where Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr., whom police said was arriving at that time.
They asked MIG agents posted nearby to verify if they knew the suspect, and they said no.
Security men immediately alarmed PCAS and accosted Ronald, who immediately called Jessie through his cell phone. In response, Jessie, along with Orayan and the two others, pulled over near Ronald.
PCAS operative, though, jumped on Jessie and Orayan. Their companions managed to escape and mingle with the crowd. The police lost them.
The suspects did not name the two who got away.
Escorted by airport policemen, the three suspects were referred to the PCAS and the ISAFP under Major Jose Garry C. Galanza, who confirmed that they were fake military agents.
Their memorandum receipts, authority to possess firearms and mission order are signed by one Colonel Salvador Escobar.
But Major Jose Gany C. Galanza, MIG 7 Commander, told PCAS officers that they have no official named Escobar.
When Puzon arrived to see PCAS Chief Jose Cosio and ask him for the three suspects release, he too was arrested. Police also confiscated his ISAFP, PNP and military IDs, which turned out to be all bogus.
Ronald insisted that their firearms are covered by proper documents.
For his part, Orayan said he was just hired to drive the car. Orayan, who said he is from Masbate and lives in Minglanilla, Cebu, denied owning the baby Armalite seized near his seat.
He reportedly pointed to the Pepino brothers as the one who hired him.
Police are still trying to establish the group's real objective at the airport.
Last February 14, Benjamin Defensor, who heads the anti-terrorism task force of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, said the country's major airports are vulnerable, particularly to shoulder-fired missiles because many are located near crowded residential areas and public roads.
Although Defensor did not single out the Mactan airport, Yap, a retired Air Force general, had assured that they already activated the anti-terrorism task force and have augmented the forces of the PCAS and airport guards as early as August.
Yap said they have worked to secure the airport and its perimeter. He pointed out that the airport has acquired nine X-ray machines and has rerouted the entry of departing passengers and employees so that all would have to pass through the X-ray machines. (EOB/OCP of Sun.Star Cebu)
(March 7, 2006 issue)
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