“THE Manila Police District (MPD) under the very able leadership of its director, Gen. Alex Gutierrez, can be depended upon.”

This was how Mayor Alfredo S. Lim yesterday expressed satisfaction over the successful arrest of the suspects in two recent incidents of killings that took place on two separate occasions in Manila.

In a press conference, Lim commended the MPD particularly Gutierrez, as he announced the arrest of suspects George Padios alias‘Toto,’ 28, of 151 Sanciangco St., Malabon City, and Noel Nuylan, 41, an aircon technician staying in at the Kenrick Aurelio Repair Shop located at 1181 Padre Alguye St., Tondo, Manila.

They are two of three suspects who robbed the Bulls Eye Laundry Shop also in Tondo last January 31 and left its 35-year-old owner Calvin Chioa dead and his wife Charlene, 34 and their children’s nanny Maricel Lebrando, 25, both seriously wounded.

Presented next was Chinese national Gong Shuyang, 25, of Room 1119 EGI Taft Tower on Taft Avenue, Manila, who was caught on closed-circuit television camera when he murdered his former girlfriend last January 14 in front of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas curbside along A. Mabini Street, Malate, Manila.

According to Lim, the swift arrest of the suspects is one solid proof that under the leadership of Chief Supt. Gutierrez, the determination of the MPD to effectively resolve crimes and expeditiously, is there and that the policemen in Manila ‘can be depended upon’.

Lim particularly lauded Gutierrez and homicide chief Maj. Joey de Ocampo for the successful and quick apprehension of the suspects which he said was a result of an intensive operation worthy of emulation by all other units of the police.

Also present in the press conference were Lim’s chief of staff and media bureau chief Ric de Guzman and homicide investigators SPO4 Virgo Villareal and PO3 Ricardo Cayabyab who were among those who effected the suspects’ arrest.

During the presentation of the suspects in the laundry shop case, Lim was told by Gutierrez and Ocampo that the  two suspects were positively identified by Lebrando and two other household helpers as the ones who perpetrated the crime. Their other cohort remains at large and is still being hunted down by the police.

Padios, it was learned, had been serving as the Chioas’ family driver for seven years before he was transferred to drive for Calvin’s mother.  Nuyan, on the other hand, is the family’s aircon technician.

The suspects barged into the Chioa residence at around 5 a.m. of said date. After tying up the helpers inside the bathroom, the suspects proceeded to the master’s bedroom and there stabbed the victims and scooped the drawers.

They then took the family car and the couple’s son with them, only to abandon both in a nearby street.

Meanwhile, Gong was nabbed for the killing of his ex-girlfriend Zhao Chun Lan, a native of Gan Su Province in China, while the latter was jogging in front of the BSP Building.

Gong reportedly first had an altercation with the victim and then boarded his car, only to ram her down.  The suspect then got a knife from his car, stabbed the victim several times, boarded the vehicle and then ran the victim over.

De Ocampo said Gong then stole a plate from a car parked in Mabini and put it in his car in an apparent attempt to mislead investigators who were able to arrest him just the same.

Initial investigation showed that the victim was running after Gong after the latter took off from China with all her money and then went to Manila to hide from her.

Lim ordered Gutierrez to make sure that all necessary and appropriate charges will be filed against the suspects.