Treñas pleased with arrest of basag-kotse suspects
City Mayor Jerry Treñas yesterday commended the Jaro and Mandurriao police stations for the arrest of five suspected members of notorious basag-kotse gang operating in Iloilo City.
He is also set to give cash rewards to the police and those who contributed to the successful police operation. The official commendation from the city government and the giving of cash rewards will be made after the police have submitted their report and filed the appropriate cases against the five suspects at the City Prosecutors Office.
Treñas said he is pleased and happy on the performance shown by Chief Inspector Orly Gabinete, Jaro police chief, and Chief Inspector Conrado Carganillo of Mandurriao police station for the apprehension of five suspected members of the gang Tuesday night in Jaro.
The two chiefs of police pooled their resources and traded information that led to the arrest of the five suspects who are not residents of Iloilo. The suspects namely, Arwin Morilla, 28; Francisco Reyes, 32, and; Benjamin Salvacion, 38, all residents of Silway, Brgy. West, Gen. Santos City; Faustino Lumaniog, 38, of Libmanan Camarines Sur and; Jade Cariño, 29, are now detained at the Jaro police station.
Extra security measures are being taken inside the police station to ensure the safety of the suspects as they hold important information that will lead to the arrest of more suspects engaged in the basag-kotse operation.
The city mayor said it does not matter to him whether the police were only pressured by their senior officials to arrest the suspects after one of the basag-kotse victims was a relative of Chief Supt. Isagani Cuevas’ wife. The important thing is they were able to arrest the suspects, he said.
Treñas hopes that the police could arrest the suspects involved in the basag-kotse cases here.
He believes the suspects have a local contact which aided them in their operation.
Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Gabinete said the investigation against the suspects is still ongoing. Initially, he theorized that the suspects are working on their own and do not have local contacts.
Gabinete said the suspects have been operating in the same places in Iloilo City. They became familiar and lucky enough to find vulnerable targets in places they used to go.
He added they could have arrested the suspects after they victimized a car parked at Carlos Café had it not for the heavy traffic in Commission Civil, Jaro.
Carlos Café is managed by the mayor’s children. There was a previous basag-kotse incident in the said place prior to last Tuesday’s incident.
Gabinete said a brave traffic aide assigned at the area sent him a text message detailing the suspect’s get away vehicle. It took more than five hours for the police to locate the suspects.
The police alerted all their personnel and utilized all their assets in tracking the vehicles. It was only late of Tuesday night when they received information on the presence of the suspect in one of the hotels in Jaro, he said.
Gabinete added that the suspects resisted when authorities swooped down the hotel room they were occupying. They were overpowered by the police operatives.
Police then recovered from the hotel room some of the items believed to have been carted away by the suspects from their victims. The other items were recovered from the suspects’ getaway vehicle.
