Chiva rob group leader surrenders
Three days after his two cousins were killed and his brother was arrested by policemen, Chiva-Fajardo Robbery Group leader Jenel Chiva, along with his cousin Geran Chiva Decretales, surrendered to the Iloilo Police Provincial Office Task Force Anti-Robbery and Extortion headed by Supt. Ipil Dueñas.
Both Chiva, 33, and Decretales, 30, were picked up by policemen at around 10 a.m. yesterday near a funeral parlor in Calinog town where the wake of their cousins, brothers Gilbert and Joey Chiva, is held.
They are now detailed at the lock-up cell of Sta. Barbara Police Station.
IPPO director, Senior Supt. Renato Gumban, said that during the encounter Saturday when Gilbert and Joey were killed, they already received surrender feelers from Jenel’s camp.
“After that, I had it followed up until they called me (saying) they want to surrender,” he said.
Gumban said the deaths of the Chiva brothers should serve as a lesson to criminal groups that the police means business in its fight against robbery.
But Jenel, in a television interview, denied involvement in the spate of robbery hold-up incidents in Iloilo. He said he surrendered to clear his name.
Based on court records, he has four arrest warrants, three for robbery and one for murder.
Gumban said the IPPO is now going after at least three more members of the Chiva camp.
“But we’re sure that Jenel’s surrender would render his members inactive, at least for now,” he added.
The other group members have no pending arrest warrants.
