Espino ambush ‘partially solved’ – top cops
POLICE have declared the ambush case of former governor and 5th District Representative Amado T. Espino Jr. as ‘partially closed’.
This was the view shared by Police Regional Director Brigadier General Emmanuel B. Peralta and Pangasinan Provincial Director Colonel Ronald Gayo in a press conference held at the Basista Training Center Thursday morning.
Peralta and Gayo presented the updates on the Simultaneous Anti-Criminality Law Enforcement Operation (SACLEO), where 242 wanted individuals – of which three from the region’s most wanted persons (MWP) list, 16 MWPs in the provincial level, and 58 among city and municipal level MWPs.
Peralta said the arrest of three suspects involved in the Espino ambush, namely Albert Palisoc, 37, Benjie Resultan, 43, and Armando Frias, 37, all residents of Urbiztondo town, is considered a breakthrough in the case.
“Their arrest is a breakthrough in the identification and later, the indictment of other perpetrators of the crime, the so-called masterminds”, said Gayo in his speech.
The trio were arrested in Barangay Poblacion, San Juan, Batangas, last February 7, 2021, in front of a bank.
Gayo said they were identified by intelligence operatives in the area, to be living in a house in Barangay Escribano, San Juan, and waited for the suspects to proceed to town to withdraw money in the bank. Their house is six kilometers away from town.
However, Peralta has not determined at presstime how long the trio has been staying in Batangas knowing that fugitives do not stay permanently in one place.
Peralta, however, said there is still a need to confirm if the three are an alleged “Raul Sison Criminal Group”, as tagged earlier by the PNP in their reports, and whether Sison was the mastermind. He, however, confirmed the suspects were bodyguards of Sison back when he was a Board Member.
Gayo said a resolution from a fiscal involved in the case decided to set aside name of Sison as mastermind for purposes of preliminary investigation adding that Sison’s reported death is still the subject of validation by a copy of his death certificate that has not been seen.
It was Sison’s son, Urbiztondo Mayor Martin Raul Sison II, that merely claimed his father died of COVID-19 at the Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig City.
Meanwhile, only two, aside from the arrested individuals, were included in the second referral. These include a Sherwin Diaz and a certain Ruseller a.k.a “Sel”.
Based on the first referral filed on October 1, 2019, suspects Joey Ferrer, Alfred Pascaran, Ronnie delos Santos, Gerry Pascua aka Kagawad Guapo, Teofilo Ferrer Jr aka Pong, Jewel Castro, and 10 other John Does were still lacking probable cause.
So far, only four suspects have been apprehended. One suspect, Ronald Anthony Romero, shot himself dead on October 26, 2020.
He attributed the success of the operations partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic because it limited their movement. (Ahikam Pasion)
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
