A FORMER vice mayor of Dasmariñas, Cavite, an
official of the PNP Special Action Force and two others were
arrested in connection with the kidnap and murder of a trader
and his driver.
Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response
(Pacer) chief Senior Supt. Leonardo Espina identified the
suspects as Victor Carungcong, 50, a former vice mayor of
Dasmariñas and the alleged mastermind; Chief Insp. Exequiel
Cautiver, 38, training director of the SAF School in Sta. Rosa,
Laguna, and a graduate of the PNP Academy in 1996; Makati
barangay tanod Alejandro Entolizo Jr., 52; and Gary Pateo, 35,
pedicab driver of Bangkal, Makati City.
The suspects were presented to the media
after inquest proceedings before senior state prosecutor Emilie
delos Santos of the Justice Department.
Two of their cohorts identified as Mariano de
Leon Jr. alias Spider; and PO1 Dondon "Bogs" Abugado are now
being hunted by the police. Abugado was part of Batch 46 of SAF
School who trained under Cautiver.
Espina said Carungcong masterminded the
abduction and murder of his own brother-in-law Demosthenes
Cañete, 67, a retired pilot from Dasmariñas, Cavite; and
Cañete's driver Allan Garay, 26, last June 27 after the victims
visited the family's gas emission testing center and drug
diagnostics clinic at the LTO compound in Sabang, Dasmariñas.
Garay was immediately killed after the
abduction and dumped in Valenzuela City. Garay was positively
identified by relatives only on Thursday. He bore several
gunshot wounds in the body. For Cañete, whose remains were found
at the Porac, Pampanga megadike last July 4, the suspects
demanded a P20 million ransom.
Espina said the suspects continued to demand
ransom for Cañete even if they had already killed him, even
agreeing to lower the amount to P973,000. His body was
positively identified last July 7. It had a lone gunshot wound
in the jaw and an exit wound in the head.
The ransom payoff, arranged for July 4 in
Malibay, Pasay City, was monitored by Pacer operatives who
picked up Entolizo and Pateo after they took the money. The
later implicated Cautiver who in turn pointed to Carungcong as
the mastermind.
Police learned that Carungcong had tried to wrest control of
the family-owned emission testing center and the drug
diagnostics clinic. "These facts establish the strongest motive
for Carungcong to get Cañete out of his way," Espina said.
- Raymond Africa
