“NO one has the right to use the uniform as a sanctuary for perpetrating crimes.”      

Thus, an upset Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim stressed yesterday, as he directed Manila Police District director Chief  Supt. Alex Guttierez to institute summary dismissal proceedings against a policeman assigned at the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) after he was pinpointed as the brains behind a recent hijacking incident in Sampaloc, Manila. He also ordered a scrutiny of the records to check if the said cop and his group also had involvement in other similar incidents.    

The cop, identified as PO1 Sherwin Casauran of the National Capital Region Police Office-Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit (RPHAU) in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig, alias ‘Killua,’ of 567 Geronimo St., Sampaloc, Manila, was arrested by MPD operatives under Station 4 commander Supt. Rolando Manatad Balasabas along with his alleged cohorts Rodrigo Peralta alias “Butchoy,” 34, family driver, residing at M. dela Fuente, Sampaloc, and said to be Casauran’s right hand; Nico Manlapaz, 19; Alfredo Dimapilis, 42, pedicab driver, and Elias Villamer, all of  V. Cruz, also in Sampaloc. 

“Itong mga ganitong klaseng pulis ang nakakasira sa imahe ng organisasyon. Nagpulis ka pa, tapos manghoholdap ka lang pala. E ’di dapat nangholdap ka na lang nang nangholdap,” Lim sarcastically told Casauran whom he said has no right to stay in the force a minute longer.     

According to Gutierrez, the said suspects are behind the January 28 hijacking of a 10-wheeler truck containing P2.4 million worth of assorted Unilever products which were bound for delivery to Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

Casauran was reportedly aboard a motorcycle along with another man wearing a police uniform when they flagged down the truck and ordered its driver Federico Soriano, 53, and helper Gerald Ballesteros, 24, of Real Time Movers and Logistic Inc., to alight while it was cruising along EDSA, Balintawak in Quezon City.

After being forced into a black Honda car, the two were reportedly blindfolded and hogtied and while the vehicle cruised along, Soriano and Ballesteros said a cellphone rang and they overheard one of the suspects being informed that their three men had been captured and the van had been also seized by Sampaloc policemen.  

Immediately, the victims said they were dumped in a grassy lot in Montalban, Rizal, where they managed to free themselves and proceed to the nearest police station to seek assistance.  In the car however, their cellphones, money and documents were taken by the suspects.   

Meanwhile, the truck operator, using a GPS,  was able to trace the truck’s location in Sampaloc and sought help from the police in the area, who were able to arrest the three helpers in the act of transferring the products from the hijacked truck into another truck.

Following their arrest, the three then pointed to Casauran as the one who hired them.  The victims of the hijacking also identified him as the one who flagged them down.