CEBU CITY – Eight alleged members of a gun-for-hire group were arrested in a series of police operations here.
POLICE Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, chief of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas, talks to suspected members of a gun-for-hire group who were arrested in recent police operations in Cebu City. (Calvin D. Cordova)
The eight suspects arrested from Jan. 17 to March 1 were responsible for the spate of shooting incidents in the past weeks in this city, said Police Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, chief of the Police Regional Office-Central Visayas (PRO-7).
The suspects served as gunmen or lookouts.
Some 166 grams of suspected shabu and eight firearms were seized from the suspects, Maranan said.
Maranan added that the suspects belong to the notorious Tañeza and Ylaya Groups operating in Cebu City and Cebu province towns.
Maranan said their arrest will reduce gun violence in Metro Cebu.
They were arrested after Maranan ordered Police Col. Enrico Figueroa, chief of the Cebu City Police Office, and the 151 station chiefs in Region 7 to run after gun-for-hire groups and recover loose firearms.
“They are gun-for-hire groups that are being paid to eliminate their rivals. It can be personal grudge, relationship problems, or illegal drugs,” Maranan said.
Maranan said there were reports that they were hiring minors for their illegal activities.
Maranan said they believe that the suspects had been operating in Cebu for some time.
Based on intelligence monitoring, the suspects have financiers who provide them with firearms and logisitics such as vehicles, Maranan said.
Firearms seized from the suspects will be examined to determine if they were used in crimes.
Maranan added that the possibility that the suspects would be used in the elections cannot be ruled out.
In an interview with reporters, the group’s alleged leader, Jumil Bataycan, 21, said no one ordered him in one shooting incident that he was involved in.
Bataycan said personal grudges were his motive, saying he just exacted revenge against the people who wronged him in the past.
Bataycan expressed remorse, saying he wanted to become an engineer someday.