PNP: No one-strike policy despite spate of car thefts

Despite the string of car thefts in Luzon in the last two weeks, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is not keen on implementing a one-strike policy against its station commanders. Chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele, head of the special investigation task group (SITG) probing the death of car dealer Venson Evangelista, made the announcement Friday. "Wala po tayong one-strike policy sa mga pulis despite the carnapping incidents... Wala po, pero since sensational itong mga kaso, we deem it necessary to relieve a station commander," he said. Mantele's statement came shortly after he announced the relief from the police service of Kamuning Station commander Superintendent Constante Agpaoa, whose area of responsibility covers the places where two bloody carjack incidents happened recently. Aside from car dealer Venson Evangelista's case, another victim radio anchor Carl Balita, fell prey to car thieves along Timog Avenue in Quezon City. Evangelista's charred remains, with gunshot wound in the head, were discovered dumped in Nueva Ecija last Tuesday. Days before the discovery, Emerson Lozano and his driver Emani Sensil were separately found dead in Pampanga and Tarlac, their bodies also charred and bore gunshot wounds in their heads. Mantele stressed that the "one-strike" policy is only being observed in regard to jueteng cases in the country. Under such a policy, the chief of police of an area is immediately sacked once jueteng operations there are discovered. A separate SITG, led by Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, deputy chief of the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), is conducting a separate probe on the killing of supposed car theft victim Lozano. On Friday's press conference, Mantele revealed that his SITG already has some positive developments on the case, which he intends to divulge "very, very soon." Mantele, who is also Quezon City Police District director, said his team is still in the middle of gathering evidence and documents to solve the case. PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo in the same press conference assured the public that the national police is exhausting all means to solve the series of carjack-slay incidents. "Pero nakikiusap po kami kung puwede hindi muna namin sabihin ang mga tinatawag na 'operational information' so as not to compromise our investigation," Bacalzo said. The top PNP official also stressed that despite the similarities in the way the victims were killed, the PNP is still considering the incidents neither as connected to one another nor perpetrated by one crimnal group. "We still don't have concrete basis to know that they are connected to carnapping syndicates," he said. "Maybe, we can finally say these were done by carnapping syndicates," he said. — LBG, GMANews.TV