Barba: Police close in on Colisao Gang protectors
ON THE OFFENSIVE
LINGAYEN–A barangay kagawad and another elected official holding a higher post have been tagged as coddlers of the Colisao gun-for-hire group whose leader and three members were arrested by the police two weeks ago in Umingan town.
Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Percival Barba, however, did not identify the suspected coddlers as the police continue to gather more evidence against them.
He said, however, that initial investigation shows that the gang is being protected by influential persons as may be evidenced by the arrival of a lawyer from Makati to defend the arrested gang members group in their criminal cases now filed in various courts in Pangasinan.
Colisao and the other suspects remain behind bars as the cases filed against them are unbailable, said Barba during the Kapisanan ng mga Brodcasters sa Pilipinas breakfast forum in Dagupan City last Thursday.
In that forum, Barba said Manny Colisao, tagged as the suspected leader of the gang, has many properties in Malasiqui, his hometown, listed under his name.
He suspects that Colisao may have accumulated the properties from his earnings in their gun-for-hire operations since he has no other visible legal sources of income.
Others arrested with Colisao were his younger brother Modesto, 25; Alver Mendoza, alias Ambet Lopez, Bebet; and Jojo Torio, 21, of Labit, Malasiqui.
Barba also said that they discovered that farmers, who borrowed money from Colisao using their properties as collateral, were eliminated when they failed to pay to facilitate ownership of their land.
Barba also tagged Manny Colisao and his group as the suspects who shot and killed Engr. Domingo Ballesteros, the enterprise economic officer of Calasiao town, in broad daylight near the municipal building on June 16, 2009.
The gang is also named as primary suspect behind the slaying of Luisito Gabat, a school principal of Barangay Gomez, Malasiqui on March 2, 2009; and former barangay chairman Flor Benitez on March 31, 2009.
Barba said the while the remnants of the10-member gang may continue with their illegal activities, the police are already hot on their trail.
Barba called on other witnesses to come out in the open so that the victims of the guns-for-hire will finally get justice.—LM
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