CAMP GEN. VICENTE LIM, Calamba City – Four suspected members of the Padilla Largo Organized Crime Group, a notorious gun-for-hire syndicate, were arrested Sunday morning by joint police operatives during an intensified manhunt operation in Sitio Galaxy B in Barangay Pinugay in Baras, Rizal.
In a press conference at the police headquarters here Monday morning, Chief Supt. Edward E. Carranza, the acting Regional Director of Police Regional Office (PRO4A)-Calabarzon, presented the arrested suspects, two of whom were tagged as Pangasinan’s No. 2 and 3 Most Wanted Persons (MWP).
Carranza commended the joint operatives from the 404th A Maneuver Company of the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 4A (RMFB4A) headed by Senior Inspector Noel P. Baysa, the Company Commander, as lead unit; the Dagupan City Special Operations Unit, led by Inspector Roland Recoco, and the Baras Municipal Police Station, led by its chief of police Senior Inspector Armando Moises.
He identified the arrested suspects as Rudy Boquerin Padilla Sr., 73, married, driver, who is listed as Number 2 MWP in Pangasinan for the crime of frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives; Rudy Diaz Padilla Jr., 36, married caretaker, who is tagged No. 3 MWP in Pangasinan for frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms and explosives; Michael Diaz Padilla, 29, caretaker, for the crime of murder; and Crisanto Diaz Padilla, 31, also a caretaker, for the crime of murder.
Carranza said that arrests stemmed from information provided by a concerned citizen that a suspicious person in their area is always seen carrying a firearm.
“The identity of the subject person was secured and was verified at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). It was then known that the person has standing warrants of arrest issued in Dagupan City,” he said.
The arresting law enforcers also confiscated from suspect Rudy Padilla Jr. a 12-Gauge Chamber Proof Tested (Shotgun) bearing Serial Number A595144 with four live ammunitions; a cal. 45 Armscor High Cap bearing Serial No. 832902 with one magazine loaded with 11 live ammunitions from Crisanto Padilla; and a 9mm Cal pistol (Beretta) bearing Serial No. 354715 with one magazine loaded with 15 live ammunitions from Michael Padilla.
According to Carranza, the brother suspects Crisanto, Michael and Rudy Jr. are all sons of Rudy Padilla Sr., a native of Lucao District in Dagupan City, Pangasinan and are presently residing at Sitio Galaxy B, Barangay Pinugay in Baras, Rizal until they were captured around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The arrested suspects are temporarily detained at the Baras police station for the filing of illegal possession of firearms in violation of RA 10591 while the confiscated pieces of evidence will be subjected for ballistic examination to verify if these are used in other crimes or shooting incidents in the region.
“We will still go through in-depth investigation if there were incidents that happened in our area of responsibility involving these persons,” Carranza vowed.
Meanwhile, Recoco, the chief of Dagupan Special Operations Unit, appealed to the public who were once the victim of the group to come out and testify to bolster cases of murder, frustrated murder, double murder and kidnapping against the suspects, which remain pending and are still for court filing due to lack of witnesses.
“The successful operation was a result of close coordination and collaboration of different law enforcement units such as the NBI, participating police units and the contribution of the people in the community by providing information on suspicious person in their area to the proper authorities,” he added. (Saul Pa-a/PNA)
