Plastic surgeon Dominador Pedracio, who did the facelift of slain suspect Alvin Flores, appeared yesterday at the National Bureau of Investigation on Taft Avenue and was cleared of any links to the Rolex heist ringleader.
Deputy Director for Intelligence Ruel Lasala said the doctor could not be held culpable for any offense even as agents and police raided and seized an arms cache at the gang’s suspected lair in Plaridel, Bulacan.
“Alvin Flores did not give his complete name and his background,” he said.
Pedracio said the suspect on Sept. 30 came to his clinic in Antipolo City for an 11-hour procedure, introducing himself as John Carlo Cruz Chavez.
During the pre-surgery interview, he quoted Flores as saying, “I am gay,” and wished to enjoy his remaining days in his chosen gender.
Lasala and Senior Supt. Diosdado Ramos, officer in charge, yesterday led the operation on an unoccupied bungalow in Rocka Village, following last month’s raids of two other safehouses in Guiginto and Malolos City.
Agent Anna Labao told Standard Today that the bureau’s composite team with head agent Roel Bolivar served a search warrant issued by Judge Basilio Gabo Jr. of the Malolos Regional Trial Court.
The inventory listed an M-14, an M-16 with grenade launcher, M203 grenades, pistols, a shotgun and ammunition.
Alos included were police uniforms, combat boots, bomb squad T-shirts, bulletproof vests, a bolt cutter and sledgehammer.
Neighbors told investigators that the house was in the name of Flores’ sister Merlinda, and that two men, two women and child occupied the place.
The NBI task force against armed robbery tracked down the gang after Oct. 18 Rolex heist in Greenbelt 5 Makati City from Antipolo to Bulacan to Pampanga, ending up in Mandaue City, Cebu, where a shootout on Oct. 29 left Flores and four other suspects dead at Dodong’s Resort, Barangay Estaca, Compostela.
Rene Batiencela, who survived, has been charged before the Makati Prosecutors Office for robbery with homicide along with co-suspects Dennis Serquina and Jose Rodriquito who were arrested separately in Pangasinan.
Batiencela said Flores has his eyes and nose done plus dimples on the cheek.
Pedracio was accompanied by lawyers Virgilio Garcia and Andrei Zapanta and associate doctor Tito Marcial. Macon Ramos Araneta and Orlan Mauricio
