Rob gang formed in jail foiled in Parañaque

By Jaymee T. Gamil
Philippine Daily Inquirer

It’s back to life behind bars for these former jail inmates from Batangas province, whose plan to rob a bank was foiled in Parañaque City on Friday.

The police on Saturday presented to the media six alleged members of the “BRL” gang, who were arrested after being found carrying guns and a grenade near a Banco de Oro branch on West Service Road.

Prior to the arrest, the police received a tip warning about the the group’s plan to rob the bank, which was later admitted by the suspects during an interrogation.

They also admitted forming their group while in detention for various crimes at the Batangas provincial jail, according to Supt. Danilo Macerin of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police.

“BRL” supposedly stands for the provinces of Batangas, Romblon and Leyte. Based on police records, however, only one of the suspects actually hailed from any of these three provinces.

In a briefing at the Southern Police District Headquarters in Taguig City, Macerin identified the suspects as Rex Borinaga, 30, the group leader who hails from Camarines Sur province; Rowelito Aranio, 33, from Batangas; Jaylord Fortuna, 35, Mario Ordoñez, 26,  Michael Labtic, 33, and Rolly Flores, 33, all from Quezon province.

When arrested around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Borinaga yielded a hand grenade, while the others were all armed with handguns. The police also seized three cell phones and a motorcycle from the group.

Fortuna was earlier jailed on charges of frustrated murder while the others were charged with theft. Aranio and Borinaga had served their sentence while the charges against the others were dismissed.

Fortuna was freed on Feb. 20, 2012, followed by Aranio on Nov. 15, Borinaga and Labtic on March 24 this year, and Ordoñez on April 8, according to the SPD.

National Capital Region Police Office director Chief Supt. Leonardo Espina commended the SPD for the arrest and noted that “we have investigated so many syndicates that are formed inside prisons.”

Espina cited the Dominguez car theft syndicate as an example.