• NEWS ROUNDUP •

Mayor’s brod held up in Parañaque

THREE armed men held up Parañaque mayor Florencio Bernabe’s elder brother Renato at a restaurant in Parañaque City Wednesday afternoon.

Parañaque police chief Senior Supt. Ronald Estilles said the elder Bernabe, a doctor, and his wife Baby were among the dozen customers held up at around 1 p.m. by the robbers while dining at the Bacolod Chicken House in Barangay BF Homes.

Two of the suspects immediately went to the table occupied by the Bernabe family and divested them of their jewelry and cellular phones.

The suspects also took the valuables of a handful of other customers, wrapping up their work within a few minutes as they took advantage of the restaurant’s lack of security guards. The suspects escaped without taking anything from the cash register of the restaurant, police said.

Members of the Parañaque police arrived at the crime scene ahead of the cops detailed at the nearby Barangay BF Homes police community precinct which was just a stone’s throw away from the restaurant.

Estilles said his men are now conducting followup operations for the capture of the suspects who reportedly belong to the FX Robbery Gang responsible for the series of robberies on public utility vehicles.

Police are hunting down one of the alleged leaders of the gang identified as Bobby Baliber, a resident of BF Homes, who was arrested on Nov. 26, 2006 along with two co-accused Joel Lazarito and Cris Dadibas on charges of robbery.

Baliber’s picture, and those of his cohorts, are now posted in various business establishments at BF Homes.

BF Homes residents had been against Mayor Bernabe’s order forcing the opening of the village gates to public traffic, saying this move has sparked a rash of crimes in their area, including snatching, car theft, cellular phone robbery and picking of pockets. – Ashzel Hachero

Noli accuser found guilty of libel

THE Pasay City regional trial court yesterday convicted businessman Rafael Engle of libel after he accused Vice President Noli de Castro in 2004 of extorting P2 million from him.

Engle was found guilty of libel and sentenced to two years in jail for publishing in a local broadsheet that De Castro had aired false stories in his television program in order to blackmail him.

Engle, however, was not present at the promulgation of the decision since he had left the country in 2004.

Judge Francisco Mendiola of the Pasay regional trial court branch 115 said the prosecution proved its case against Engle beyond reasonable doubt. "Noteworthy is the failure of the accused to be present after the commencement of the trial of this case as he has jumped bail. His flight is an additional indication of his guilt," the judge stressed.

Since the trial began in 2004 when De Castro was running for vice president, Engle had been tried in absentia after he jumped bail and failed to attend the subsequent hearings.

He claimed that De Castro’s staff in Magandang Gabi Bayan approached him in 1995 to offer help in finding his missing wife. He said one of the MGB crew told him to prepare P2 million so the episode on him would put him in a good light.

Engle had actually been accused in court earlier of kidnapping his own wife but was acquitted.

After refusing to pay up, Engle said he was shocked when MGB aired an unfavorable episode portraying him as the kidnapper of his own wife. – Ashzel Hachero

Vice mayor nabbed for illegal firearm

THE incumbent vice mayor of Dasol, Pangasinan was arrested after he yielded an undocumented firearm at a police checkpoint Monday night.

A Camp Crame report identified the suspect as Moises Alejos, 55, of Barangay Poblacion, Dasol, Pangasinan, who is running for re-election under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino. Alejos was reportedly accosted by police at a checkpoint in Barangay Poblacion while riding a single Enduro Suzuki motorcycle (AN-6200).