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ILIGAN CITY – Former Ozamiz City Councilor Ricardo Parojinog, believed to be the leader of the notorious Kuratong Baleleng gang, was found dead inside his holding cell at the Ozamiz City Police Station on Friday, according to the Philippine National Police.
Parojinog’s death appeared to be a crippling blow to the infamous Kuratong Baleleng gang, which has featured in several daring crimes dating back to the 1990s, shortly after it established itself, allegedly with military backing, as an anti-communist self-defense group. in 1986.
Parojinog, 57, did not respond when police tried to wake him up around 6 a.m. for a hearing at the Ozamiz City Regional First Instance Court, Brig said. General Rolando Anduyan, head of the North Mindanao regional police.
“The cause of death is cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to cardiovascular disease and probable COVID-19,” Anduyan said in a telephone interview with the Inquirer.
Ordered probe
He said that Dr. Maria Florelyn Yrog-Irog, from the Ozamiz City Health Office, examined Parojinog’s body and a swab test was performed to determine whether Parojinog had the new coronavirus.
Anduyan said that Parojinog’s body was later taken to a funeral home in the city and would remain there until the COVID-19 test results are released. If the swab results are positive, Parojinog would be buried immediately.
But the PNP police chief, Lieutenant General Camilo Cascolan, still ordered an investigation into the death and ordered Anduyan to place the Ozamiz city police chief and the police officers who were on duty at the time in restrictive custody. said PNP spokesman Brig. General Bernard Banac.
‘CARDIAC ARREST’ Ricardo Parojinog is found dead inside the Ozamiz city police jail on Friday morning. —PICTURE CONTRIBUTED
No signs of foul play
Cascolan also ordered the investigation of the PNP Custody Center security team escorting Parojinog from the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame in the city of Qurezon, where he was being held, to the city of Ozamiz, where he was to attend a hearing one of the charges against you. .
Anduyan said he had complied with orders from Camp Crame and that crime scene investigators found no evidence of foul play in Parojinog’s cell.
Anduyan said that while investigators found no bruises, stab wounds or signs of strangulation on Parojinog’s body, police had not yet ruled out a dirty act.
“We cannot completely rule out [foul play]We have to complete the investigation, ”he said.
2017 raid
Parojinog was the younger brother of the former mayor of Ozamiz Reynaldo Parojinog, whom the police believed was the leader of the Kuratong Baleleng gang.
Reynaldo, his wife Susan, and his brother Octavio Jr. were killed along with several others during a deadly raid on their home in the town of Ozamiz on July 30, 2017. The raid also resulted in the arrest of Reynaldo’s children, the former vice mayor of the city of Ozamiz. Nova Princess Parojinog and Reynaldo Jr.
Reynaldo Jr. was convicted of illegal possession of illegal drugs in May 2019 and sentenced to life in prison. Nova Princess is being held in Quezon City awaiting trial for possession of drugs and firearms.
FUGITIVE The then head of the Philippine National Police, Oscar Albayalde, personally received former Ozamiz city councilor Ricardo Parojinog on July 27, 2018, following his repatriation from Taiwan, where he fled after his brother Reynaldo left. killed in a police raid the previous year. —PRODUCE FILE PHOTO
Repatriate
Shortly after the July 2017 raid, Ricardo, who was believed to have assumed leadership of Kuratong Baleleng after Reynaldo’s death, attempted to flee the country but was arrested in Taiwan in July 2018 for using false travel documents. He was repatriated in September 2018.
But the death of Ricardo, known in Ozamiz as “Ardot,” not only put an abrupt halt to the pending criminal charges against him, but also raised questions about who would be the next leader of Kuratong Baleleng.
Kuratong Baleleng was established in 1986 by Ricardo’s father, Octavio Parojinog Sr., a descendant of a migrant family from Cebu with business and political connections throughout Mindanao, where the illegal Masiao numbers game is believed to have operated.
High profile crimes
The people of Mindanao claim that the gang was meant to be a militia against communist rebels, but they soon turned to crime and the military wanted to shut down the group in 1990 by arresting Octavio, but killed him when he resisted arrest.
After Octavio’s death, Kuratong Baleleng, led by Octavio’s second son Renato, and other relatives, escalated his criminal activities with high-profile bank robberies, kidnappings, murders, illegal gambling, and narcotics.
PACC, Lacson target
His crimes are believed to include the smuggling of rice and sugar worth about 600 million pesetas through the port of Ozamiz and the kidnapping of Taiwanese merchant Jack Chou.
By 1995, Kuratong Baleleng had become so notorious that he became a target of the Presidential Commission Against Crime (PACC), then headed by senior police officer Panfilo Lacson, who is now a senator.
The murder of 11 Kuratong Baleleng members in May 1995 became a protracted legal problem for Lacson for at least eight years, while Renato Parojinog began his political career in Ozamiz.
Renato, however, was also killed in 2002 after he was shot in the chest while walking along Kalaw Street in Manila. Police believe that Renato was succeeded by his older brother Reynaldo in that year and then by Ricardo in 2017.
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