Car theft victims urged: Check Taguig bodega

The Taguig City police are calling on motorists looking for their stolen vehicles—particularly those in the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna and Rizal—to check a warehouse in Taguig that yielded “cannibalized’’ automotive parts when raided by authorities  recently.

The warehouse is owned by a police officer who was linked to car theft activities two years ago but managed to remain in the service. The officer—now assigned to the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) based in Bicutan, Taguig—disappeared days before the raid.

In an Inquirer interview on Wednesday, the city police chief, Senior Supt. Arthur Felix Asis, said they are expected to complete the inventory of the vehicle parts next Monday. “(The owners) can compare chassis number of the vehicles with those on their official receipts and certificate of registrations.”

He noted that most of the vehicle parts found in the warehouse were those of trucks, vans and motorcycles.

PO3 Wilson Castro Regala, the reported owner of the warehouse, last reported for work at the NCRPO more than a week before the Dec. 27 raid, Asis said. Regala is assigned to the NCRPO detachment of the Philippine National Police Communications and Electronics Service (PNP Comel) at Camp Bagong Diwa.

“We received information that he is no longer reporting for work after the joint operation of our office and the Bulacan PNP,” the police chief said.

Asis was referring to the case of a businessman based in Sta. Maria, Bulacan, who recovered his Isuzu van at the warehouse hours after it was stolen in his town on the night of Dec. 27.

The van’s global positioning system enabled the owner and the Bulacan police to locate it at the warehouse of WCR Tire Supply on Manuel L. Quezon Street in Lower Bicutan.

The police found the van already dismantled, along with other vehicles whose engines were already missing, as well as other automotive parts.  Asis said there was nobody manning the warehouse when they arrived.

Asis confirmed that Regala was arrested in 2013 for stealing another Isuzu van then parked on Antipolo Street, Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City. Earlier news reports indicated that Regala was already part of the PNP Comel at that time.

Asis said the Taguig police would file complaints against Regala for fencing while the Bulacan police would charge him with car theft. -Maricar B. Brizuela