G.R. No. 124344 - PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. SGT. LAURO P. ARSENAL, RUBEN A. ACERVO, WILLIAM S. TRESPECES, ATANACIO O. SARIA, MERLITO M. PEREZ AND REMY R. YSON, ACCUSED. SGT. LAURO P. ARSENAL, RUBEN A. ACERVO AND WILLIAM S. TRESPECES, ACCUSED-.

Ruling

Accordingly, Capt. Corpuz ordered some of his teams to position themselves at the Shell gasoline station along the coastal road, some at the Petron gasoline station in Imus, Cavite, while the rest were "to shadow" [6] the movements of Johnny. Back at 4220 Tomas Claudio St., Sgt. Mabalot saw the three (3) men board a Mitsubishi Lancer with Plate No. PTP 630. While tailing the car he relayed the information to Capt. Corpuz. After a while, however, he had to be relieved by M/Sgt. Palomares and Sgt.Singcay since it appeared that the three (3) men were beginning to suspect that they were being followed. Before disengaging himself, Sgt. Mabalot saw his comrades follow the Lancer as it turned left at Roxas Blvd. and headed towards the coastal road. Along Roxas Blvd., the Lancer was spotted by unmarked HPG vehicles which allowed it to overtake them and to tail the Hi-lux. Through the untinted windows of the Lancer, Capt. Corpuz noticed that the one driving was the small man; beside him was another man, and occupying the rear seat was the tall man. While at the coastal road, Johnny received a call from Capt. Corpuz that they had already identified the suspects who were riding in the silver metallic Lancer with Plate No. PTP 630 and were following him. From a distance of some ten (10) meters, Johnny saw the Lancer from his rear view mirror. Upon reaching the Shell station along the coastal road, per instruction, Johnny stopped and alighted for gasoline refill and then opened the four (4) doors of his car. The Lancer also stopped but at Petron across Shell. The unmarked HPG vehicles posted at Petron observed that the three (3) men on board the Lancer were closely watching Johnny's movements. Captain Corpuz took note that when Johnny left, the Lancer also left Petron and followed Johnny. Johnny's next stop was supposed to be at Petron in Imus, Cavite. However, he made a mistake by stopping at the Petron station in Bacoor, Cavite. Captain Corpuz noticed that the Lancer slowed down and its three (3) passengers were staring at Johnny. Fearing that their operation had been detected and Johnny was in danger, Capts. Cruz and Corpuz signaled the unmarked HPG vehicles to intercept the Lancer and apprehend its passengers, as they did. The latter resisted arrest and tried to shoot it out but were overcome by the HPG teams. Thereafter the entire group proceeded to Tagaytay City to "play the scenario," in the language of Capt. Corpuz, pursuant to the kidnappers' written instructions. But in Tagaytay City, the HPG teams could not find a lighted torch. The group then decided to go back to Silang, Cavite, to conduct a tactical interrogation of the arrested men. In a closed gasoline station in Silang, the identities of those arrested were established as Sgt. Lauro P. Arsenal, Ruben A. Acervo and William S. Trespeces. After uncovering through his identification card that Sgt. Arsenal was an agent of the Narcotics Command (NARCOM), Capt. Corpuz who used to be a NARCOM officer