Although de la Paz did not name them, he said, one of the personalities under close monitoring has a military background while another is a businessman.

The group is suspected of being behind the P3.6 million heist at the Central Negros Electric Cooperative in March.

De la Paz said that reports they gathered have showed that these personalities are financiers of the group while others look for prospective targets.

“Once we have enough evidence against them, we will arrest these personalities”, he said.

Police intelligence reports show no sightings of the group in Bacolod in the past few days and it is possible that they have already left the province, De la Paz added.

National Bureau of Investigation-Bacolod agent-in-charge, Fernando Lavin, said the reason why the Ozamis-Parohinog-Dipolog group keeps coming to Bacolod is because there are no other organized gangs here.

NBI and other government agencies are working hand-in-hand with the BCPO in locating the group.

The Bacolod city police is still waiting for more witnesses to come out so they can prove that Joseph Lontayao of General Santos City and a member of the Moro Nationalist Liberation front, and a certain Joseph Calaramo, one of the suspects in the CENECO robbery, are the same.

De la Paz confirmed that their source told them that Lontayao, a former policeman, was seen at the headquarters of the Ozamis-Parohinog-Dipolog group after the robbery in CENECO.

Lontayao was apprehended by security guards of a pawnshop in Brgy. Bata last week and turned him over to the police. He has already been charged for usurpation of authority for introducing himself as a police inspector when he was arrested.*APN

back to top