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Residents
and businessmen of Guindulman town fear for their lives as
robbery-holdup suspect Ian Bautista and his group remain at
large and are reportedly recruiting new members in the coastal
town.
Two
residents of Guindulman described to the Chronicle how stores,
business establishments and households close down as early
as 6 o'clock in the evening as they fear Bautista's group
might strike. Identities of the two locales are withheld for
security reasons.
They
said residents of barangays Catungawan, Casbo, Bato, Bulawan
and Guinacot have organized volunteer groups that conduct
patrols during nighttime in order to secure their neighborhood
as Bautista's group has been spotted several times aboard
two motorcycles roaming their area.
Bautista
has been tagged as prime suspect of a murder and hold-upping
incident last January 9 in Catungawan, a barangay approximately
three kilometers from Poblacion, Guindulman. The barangay
has six volunteers who complement barangay tanods.
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Even
stores and businesses at the Guindulman public market
close down before 6 o'clock, the Chronicle sources said.
"Police
could not respond to emergency calls," according
to two residents of Catungawan interviewed by the Chronicle
yesterday.
They
said the Guindulman PNP do not have its own police vehicle
while there are times when there is only one police-on-duty
during nighttime and could not leave his post to respond
to their alarm.
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Bautista,
together with Michael Lao, bears a P100,000 cash reward offered
by City Mayor Dan Lim to informants who could lead to the
suspect's capture.
Both
are the prime suspects on two broad daylight hold-ups in the
city which victimized the Lim Caltex gas station and a cashier
of Unitop department store who was about to deposit more than
P500,000 in cash last December.
Police
are also pursuing links of the two suspects to the hold-up
of four First Consolidated Bank Foundation personnel who have
just withdrawn over P300,000.
"DAGINOT"
GANG
Bautista,
who originally comes from barangay Cogtong, Candijay town,
is also implicated in robberies of said town.
Bautista's
group is known by locales as "daginot" gang as they
disregard choosing whom to victimize, whether poor or affluent.
The
gang has reportedly recruited one Jonas Amin in barangay Bato,
according to the Chronicle source.
FEAR
DOWNPLAYED BY PNP
Guindulman
police is downplaying fears of residents despite their admission
that they have been receiving tips that Bautista have been
sighted.
Guindulman
PNP investigator SPO1 Julius Janiola, in a separate interview
with the Chronicle, said there have been times when informants
positively identified the suspect.
Janiola
denied that Bautista is operating with a group. He did not
confirm that the suspect is recruiting in some barangays.
For
more than a month now, the municipal police have been conducting
random checkpoints, according to Janiola.
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