Valenzuela offers P300,000 bounty for robbery-slay suspects

Valenzuela City is offering a P300,000 bounty for the information of the whereabouts or the capture of each of the four suspects tagged in the robbery-slay of a company messenger in the city last month, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

The suspects who remain at large are Rico Reyes, Narciso Santiago, Jo-Anne Cabatuan, and dismissed police officer Anthony Glua Cubos. They allegedly participated in the October 9 killing of 30-year-old Niño Luegi Hernando.

Cabatuan was previously tagged by police as a witness, but also became a suspect after police found that she provided information to other suspects about the movements of the victim, Valenzuela Police Chief Col. Fernando Ortega said.

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“Jo-Anne Cabatuan knew [the movement of the victim and the amount of money he withdrew] because she’s also an employee, the secretary, of the company where the victim worked,” Ortega told in a press conference on Monday, referring to the P433,000 cash withdrawn by the victim before his killing and which was carted away by Reyes and Santiago, the two motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Cubos, on the other hand, was the mastermind or the “leader” behind the killing, Ortega alleged.

Meanwhile, two more suspects—identified as Edgar Batchar and Cpl. Michael Castro—are already under police custody. Castro went AWOL (absence without official leave) on Sunday after finding out that police already arrested another suspect that could implicate him in the crime, Ortega added.

Philippine National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas said the suspects might have been part of a robbery-holdup and gun-for-hire group operating in Northern Manila and Bulacan.

“We believe this is not only the case because based on the revelation, there were also four or five more crime incidents where they were involved,” Sinas said, “We’re still backtracking where they committed them.”

“They had the courage to commit crime because they had former policemen in their group,” Sinas added.

Hernando was shot dead aboard his motorcycle while travelling along Maysan Road. His motorcycle was also taken by one of the gunmen.

Charges for robbery with homicide and carnapping are already filed against the suspects, police said.

The local government said, those who know the whereabouts of the suspects may report to 09173082274 or 09178203775.