Suspects in Greenbelt 5 robbery killed in Cebu

(Updated 11:10 a.m.) Four suspected members of the notorious Alvin Flores Gang, including its supposed leader, were shot dead in an encounter with government agents in the central Philippine province of Cebu Thursday night. GMA Cebu's Lalaine Go said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which engaged the suspected gang members, also took into custody a fifth gang member wounded in the encounter. NBI agents from Manila were serving arrest warrants on the suspects at their hideout in a compound at Sitio Lutao Marikina in Estaca village, Compostela town when the suspects allegedly fired at them. Roel Bolivar, head of the NBI’s Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (RAID) in Manila, identified the suspects killed in the encounter as Alvin Flores, Richie Hijapon, Mark Salamanca. The fourth fatality remained unidentified. The arrested suspect was identified as Rene Batiancila. Recovered from him and his four slain companions were an Armalite, a pistol, and several ammunitions. Batiancila has a pending warrant of arrest for illegal possession of firearms. Meanwhile, an Antipolo court has earlier issued a warrant of arrest against Flores for robbery. Investigators in Manila flew south after monitoring that the robbery group had already left Luzon for Cebu. Authorities are still determining if the suspects went to Visayas to hide or to launch fresh robbery attacks. Police do not know whether the group has local contacts in the province but NBI Central Visayas regional director Medardo de Lemos said it was the first time the suspects were seen going to Cebu. Flores carried a P500,000-reward for his capture. The Alvin Flores Gang gained notoriety for its modus operandi, where members would pose as uniformed lawmen to gain entry to an establishment they intend to rob. It was tagged in the October 18 Greenbelt 5 robbery in Makati City where one of its members was killed in a shootout with the bodyguards of Taguig Mayor Sigfredo "Freddie" Tinga. A week after the Greenbelt 5 incident, police have beefed up their surveillance system in crime-prone areas in Metro Manila. Metro Manila police head Director Roberto Rosales said the system can access about 2,000 areas in the metropolis. He said the additional closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring equipment will be sourced from some P40 million in "donations" from the private sector.- GMANews.TV