An active police officer whom the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group tagged as the brains behind the kidnapping of Rolando Arguelles was arrested Wednesday, just after five of his alleged accomplices were killed in a shootout with authorities in San Pablo, Laguna early Tuesday.
PNP-AKG chief Senior Supt. Glenn Dumlao said Senior Police Officer 2 Leo Pamonag, assigned at the Police Regional Office-4A, was apprehended in a barber shop in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
Pamonag, whose rank is equal to a staff sergeant in the military, was pinpointed as the mastermind of the kidnapping of Arguelles—a “high-value” drug target of the regional police—from his house in Barangay Mangilag, Candelaria, Quezon on Monday night.
Pamonag was identified by a certain “Lalaine,” whom police also arrested in the group’s safehouse in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, Dumlao said.
In an interrogation, Pamonag admitted to providing the police uniforms and ammunition to the five slain kidnappers in the shootout when operatives rescued Arguelles in San Pablo City.
However, “Lalaine” told interrogators she saw Pamonag giving instructions to the kidnappers on how to carry out the abduction of Arguelles.
“Lalaine told us that she often saw Pamonag in their safehouse, giving instructions to the gang,” Dumlao said.
Pamonag was the one who rented a house near the home of Arguelles to monitor his activities, the AKG chief said.
With the arrest of the suspect policeman, Dumlao believed Pamonag’s group had already been neutralized.
PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa is set to promote operatives of the Candelaria Municipal Police Station and AKG who fought the five kidnappers in the bloody encounter in San Pablo City.
A posthumous promotion will be conferred to PO1 Ma. Zarah Baliton Andal of the Candelaria MPS, while meritorious promotions will be given to around 20 members of Candelaria MPS and AKG for gallantry, the PNP said in a statement.
The combined police operatives rescued Arguelles, who was snatched by the kidnappers clad in police uniforms from his house in Mangilag, Candelaria on Monday.
The suspects had demanded P800,000 from the Arguelles family for his freedom, parallel to dropping charges of illegal drugs against the victim, who is on the PNP drugs watchlist.
But the supposed pay-off was cut short after police teams chanced upon the kidnappers, which sparked the firefight. PO1 Andal was critically wounded and died hours after undergoing medical treatment.