STA. BARBARA – True to his word that he’ll make his town safe for its residents but dangerous to criminals, Mayor Reynaldo Velasco, a retired third-star police general, announced on Wednesday the arrest of a suspected gun-for-hire and an escapee from the national penitentiary.

Velasco presented to newsmen Ferdinand Ocampo, 38, a native of barangay Maningding, this town, who escaped from Muntinlupa in 2004 where he was serving his sentence for illegal possession of firearms and attempted homicide since 1999.

Ocampo, who reports said, was used as bodyguard of certain political personalities in Pangasinan, was tipped off to the police by residents of Maningding who are members of the newly organized Barangay Information Network.

He was arrested on Saturday by elements of the local police led by Inspector Giovanni Mangonon who were dispatched by Police Chief Serapion Eden to arrest the fugitive.

Ocampo did not resist when he was arrested while looking for food for breakfast in their kitchen.

Velasco broke news of the arrest to Bureau of National Penitentiary Chief, Gen.Ricardo Dapat (ret.) in a phone talk with the latter prisons official.

In his inaugural address last June 30, Velasco said Sta. Barbara will be the most dangerous place for criminals. “I advise criminals or would-be criminals to leave the town soonest, he said”. “It is dangerous to your health.”

Velasco said the police in Sta. Barbara will coordinate with the Police Provincial Office and Police Regional Office to check on crimes where the suspect was involved while he was hiding from the long arm of the law as fugitive.

“Our initial tactical interrogation showed that the suspect has been going with some local politicians, so we are having him subjected to further interrogation by the police regional headquarters as it might help in the solution of some killings in Pangasinan,” Velasco said.

At the same time, Velasco revealed intelligence reports he gathered from sources in the military and police that hired guns from as far as Quezon province are now in Pangasinan.

The report, he said, is that these hired guns are now in hiding somewhere in Dagupan and some areas in Pangasinan.
“Maybe after the arrest of Ocampo, they (guns-for-hire) may not want to come here any more,” he said.