The Rise And Fall Of The Kuratong Baleleng Gang And The Parojinog Clan

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If Colombia had the Cali Cartel, the Philippines had the Kuratong Baleleng Gang. The turbulent, crime-ridden ‘90s, marked by massacres and other gruesome crimes, did not spare Mindanao. Robberies and illegal drug trafficking were said to be monopolized by one group, the notorious Kuratong Baleleng Gang.

Based in Ozamiz, the group has been accused of so many crimes that their name eventually became synonymous with sindikato, the shadowy organized-crime syndicates with tentacles in every part of the country. Outside Mindanao, the Kuratong Baleleng Gang started to build bases in Cebu and Metro Manila.

The continuing fascination with the gang has led to depictions in popular culture, including the 2014 Robin Padilla-starrer Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Ina, at mga Anak, and the upcoming Bamboo Dogs by indie filmmaker Khavn de la Cruz.

So who was the Kuratong Baleleng Gang, and how were they able to rise in power?

ILLUSTRATION: Jasrelle Serrano

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The Seeds of Crime

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Ironically, given the ferocity of the gang's crimes, they were named after a bamboo instrument, similar to a bell, that was used to alert villagers of incoming attacks. There are accounts saying that the founding members of the gang hailed from the Botanical Youth Club, an innocuously named vigilante group created by the military in 1986 to fight against communist rebels.

The post-EDSA era saw the height of nationwide fear about insurgents and communists taking over Mindanao, and the government needed to do something about it. The Philippine Army 101st Battalion based in Misamis Occidental, under the command of Army Major Franco Calanog, supervised the Botanical Youth Club, then one of a number of anti-communist vigilante groups all over Mindanao who were backed by the government.

Any group needs a leader who can execute their mission: The Kuratong Balaleng had Octavio “Ongkoy” Parojinog, Sr., who came from an influential Mindanao family. It was said that since the ‘70s, politicians would court the Parojinogs to bolster their chances of winning elections, since the family was known to have resources to protect politicians and tycoons alike.

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Kuratong Baleleng also had the community’s support. The generous Ongkoy was called the "Robin Hood of Lawis” by the regular townsfolk. Lawis referred to “inside,” the poor barangays where the initial members of Kuratong Baleleng also came from. These are the same communities who benefited from the patronage of the Parojinogs. Reports from local journalists called the Parojinogs as “approachable, simple people” who had a “soft heart” for those in need.

At first, the group performed its role, acting like vigilantes to stomp on the threat of the so-called insurgents. The Kuratong Baleleng was known to be so effective that they had the military’s support. They were given firearms such as M-16s and M-203 grenade launchers. With great firepower should come great responsibility—this was not to be the case with Kuratong Baleleng, unfortunately.

From Friend to Foe

It wasn’t long before rumors spread that the group is also using their military-issued guns for illegal activities such as kidnappings, robberies, extortion, drug trafficking, and other crimes. The group was present in different parts of Mindanao such as Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibuguey, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Cagayan de Oro City. Their activities have also reached parts of Cebu City, Metro Manila and nearby towns.

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In 1988, the military tried to disband the gang, after insurgent activities started to die down. But by then, it was too late. The group had grown too powerful for the military to control. The gang had already started to operate like the Mafia. There were reports that they extorted money from most of the business establishments in the cities they controlled. Those who were not able to pay were punished by having their stores looted or burned.

A briefing paper by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) dated April April 20, 2001 stated that the lack of military supervision was the turning point for Kuratong Baleleng: “The group metamorphosed into an organized criminal syndicate. A lot of kidnappings, robberies, smuggling, murders, and extortion were attributed to the group," read the briefing.

The group grew in notoriety and this is why other criminal syndicates thought of using the Kuratong Balaleng as a scapegoat for their crimes. This is why the crimes were traced to the organization, the ISAFP report stated.

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Around this time, Ongkoy decided to engage firsthand in the activities of his group in other parts of Mindanao and Visayas. However, he got sick and went back to Ozamiz City, not knowing that his fate had already been decided for him.

ILLUSTRATION: Jasrelle Serrano

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The Second Generation of the Crime Family

In September 1990, Ongkoy went to watch a cockfight. What he didn’t expect were the five soldiers of the Company of the Philippine Constabulary who came to arrest him for a case of illegal possession of explosives. Ongkoy resisted and was gunned down. Ongkoy’s death started a lifelong vendetta between the Kuratong Baleleng gang and the police and military. It didn’t come as a surprise that the suspects in Ongkoy’s death were killed one by one. Soon after, Calanog died in a drug bust operation by the National Bureau of Investigation.

With their figurehead dead, Kuratong Baleleng split into three groups. Ongkoy’s sons—Renato, alias “Nato”; and Reynaldo, alias “Aldong”—operated in Mindanao, Cebu, Negros, and Metro Manila. They focused their efforts on robbing banks, armored cars, as well as kidnappings. Ongkoy’s nephew, Carlito “Dodo Miklo” Calasan, headed another group that specialized in extortions, holdups, and bank robberies in Iligan, General Santos City, Cebu City, and Metro Manila. The last group was composed of Ongkoy’s original men who stayed in Ozamiz City and the nearby provinces. They ruled with extortion and illegal gambling.

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Other subgroups emerged later on, which included Kuratong Baleleng I, headed by Wilson Soronda. Another, called Kuratong Baleleng II was also known by many names: the Robert Ramos / Edla Oliver group, the Socrates Aguilar group, the Joedisil Siong group, and the Ozamiz Boys group.

The ISAFP brief listed many crimes allegedly perpetrated by the gang, including the P2 million robbery of Solid Bank in Tangub City in 1988, the P12 million Monte de Piedad armored van robbery on Roxas Boulevard in 1990, and the P12 million Traders Royal Bank robbery in Buendia in 1991.

As if following the plot of a gangster movie, the powerful family soon faced a crisis. On April 23, 1993, joint operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Counter-Intelligence Group and the PC Capital Command arrested Nato, who was wanted for 18 counts of criminal cases and carried a P600,000 bounty on his head. He and several members of the gang were staying at the Golden Miles subdivision in Cainta, Rizal.

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With nowhere to run, Aldong and another brother, Ricardo alias “Ardot” surrendered to then ISAFP Chief, Brig. Gen. Dominador Salac, in Camp Aguinaldo in March 1994. Not long after, Dodo Miklo was gunned down by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force agents in Cebu City.

While incarcerated, Nato denied all allegations against him. He insisted that his family runs legitimate businesses, including a construction firm, a grocery store, and a transportation service. The family also owned two buildings and a lotto franchise. However, intelligence reports stated that the Parojinogs ran an illegal numbers gambling game called masiao in different parts of Mindanao. They were also planning on franchising Bingo 2-ball, a legalized version of jueteng.

Just two years later, Nato, Aldong, and Ardot Parojinog were back in Ozamiz. The criminal charges were dropped against them due to lack of evidence. Other members of the group were also granted immunity.

The member of another Kuratong Baleleng branch called the Solido group, for example, eyed for carnappings and bank robberies in Manila, were arrested on July 2, 1996. This was after months and months of investigation, car chases, and shootouts with the police, headed by then Police Chief Inspector Renato Laurinaria. The five arrested members named a certain Joel “Jojo” Arnan and an Army Captain as links to the big bosses of the syndicate.

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However, when they were about to arrest Arnan, the team working for the arrest was reassigned, Laurinaria was relieved, and the captured members were transferred to another jail where they mysteriously escaped. Records of the army captain allegedly involved with the gang also vanished.

The gang’s connection did prove helpful and the family’s confidence never faltered. Nato even ran for Congress in 1998 but was defeated by former Health Secretary Hilario Ramiro. Some reports state that it was Atong Ang, former President Joseph Estrada’s gambling buddy, who convinced Nato to run. Even if he lost, the family was definitely back in business.

It seemed that the Parojinogs started to diversify their activities as they also entered the smuggling scene. According to ISAFP reports, the gang was responsible for smuggling hundreds of thousands of sacks of rice, white sugar, and cigarettes in different ports in Ozamiz and Cebu from February 1 to June 27, 1999.

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Aside from rice, sugar, and cigarettes, illegal drugs were also smuggled by the gang, according to ISAFP. They allegedly partnered with the Taiwanese Triad to smuggle drugs from Malaysia. On top of this, a shabu factory was said to be in operation in the aptly named Barangay Tinago in Ozamiz City which was allegedly being protected by Chinese business owners. Members of the group were, naturally, still available to be hired by these rich entrepreneurs for their own means.

Since the group accumulated wealth, they have also established lending agencies that doubled as an intelligence network that serves the group. With these investments and operations running all over the country, how many people were exactly involved with Kuratong Baleleng?

At its peak, reports estimated that the group had over 40,000 members. In a 1999 interview, Aldong Parojinog—who has since been elected to the mayoralty of Ozamiz City five times—was asked how many people in Ozamiz were members of Kuratong Balelng. He famously answered: “Almost everybody.”

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ILLUSTRATION: Jasrelle Serrano

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And Finally, Politics

They had the money, the firepower, and they commanded both fear and respect among the people. All they needed was a stake in politics, and the family would become invincible, or so they thought.

After Ongkoy was killed, Nato was arrested in Cainta, Rizal, in 1993; his brothers, Aldong and Ricardo, surrendered, and were charged with assault and a long list of bank robberies. The cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Nato’s defeat in the 1998 Congressional elections did not dishearten him. He pursued a career in politics and became a provincial board member of Misamis Occidental in 2001.

On the other hand, Aldong, a high school dropout, was elected barangay chairperson in 1997. He later became president of the federated Association of Barangay Councils. At some point, he also became chairman of the Misamis Occidental Movement for Peace and Order.

Aldong and Nato ran and won during the 2001 elections: Reynaldo as Ozamiz City mayor and Renato as Misamis Occidental provincial board member.

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As they climbed the political ladder, some of their past cases came back to haunt the family. One of these was the May 18, 1995 incident, which left 11 members of the syndicate dead. Police officials claimed that the gang members had been killed in a shootout, but several witnesses, including journalists, testified that an execution had taken place: not only were the gang members handcuffed, their van was also riddled in bullets.

The case was investigated by three Senate committees, which concluded that those who died were defenseless because none of them fired a gun, and that appropriate charges of homicide or murder should be filed against those who were involved in the operation. This included then PNP Chief Superintendents Panfilo Lacson, Jewel Canson, and Romeo Acop, Senior Superintendent Francisco Zubia, and 15 other officers.

This case went on for years, and the murder case was finally dismissed on November 12, 2003 due to lack of probable cause. The Supreme Court later on upheld the earlier ruling that finally cleared Lacson and fellow officers of the alleged rubout. This case proved that maybe the Kuratong Baleleng wasn’t untouchable after all.

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On February 15, 2002, Nato was in Manila to attend a conference. As he stepped inside a taxi, a lone gunman armed with at least two caliber .45 pistols appeared. He shot Nato, who died a few hours later in the hospital. Although his brothers claimed that political motivations spurred the killing, this didn’t really stop the rest of the family from pursuing politics.

In the 2000s, members of the Parojinog family—now including Aldong's children—ran and won seats in the city and provincial government. This includes Aldong’s children. They had the support of their constituents, despite allegations of corruption and drug trafficking. Mayor Aldong and his daughter, Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog, were accused of awarding city contracts to their own construction company in 2008, leading to an arrest order issued in 2016. The following year, the case was junked by the Sandiganbayan.

In August 2016, Aldong, Ricardo, and Nova Princess were included in the list of government officials linked to the drug trade that was made public by President Rodrigo Duterte. The family vehemently denied this, though Aldong admitted that Nova Princess was the partner of known drug convict and Bilibid inmate Herbert Colango.

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And like in any Mafia movie, the family’s story reached a bloody end. On July 30, 2017, at 2:30 a.m. members of the Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the Misamis Occidental Police Provincial Office and the Ozamiz City Police Station raided the Parojinog residence. They had warrants for Aldong, Nova Princess, and several other family members.

The police said that they were welcomed with gunshots by the Parojinog’s security personnel and they retaliated. At the end of the encounter, 15 people were dead, including the Mayor himself, his wife, Susan, his brother, Board Member Octavio Parojinog Jr., and sister Mona. Parojinog’s camp deny ever firing. Had they not died, the mayor and his brother would have finished their terms in 2019.

The police also raided several other Parojinog properties, which included the house of Nova Princess and two farms. In these other raids, thirteen more people were killed and a total of P1.4 million were retrieved. Among those confiscated were grenade bags, firearms, cash, and bags of suspected shabu.

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The Parajinogs were in the news again when Nova Princess and her brother, Reynaldo "Dodo" Parojinog, Jr., were arrested and flown Manila to face charges for illegal possesion of firearms and explosives in July 2017. This year, in May 2018, Aldong's younger brother, Ricardo, was also found hiding in Taiwan; he was arrested and flown back to the Philippines. If this were a mob movie, the credits would already be rolling. It seems that the sun is setting for the powerful Parojinog clan, but this may not be the least we hear from them.

Sources:

The Parojinogs, Brothers In Crime

The Making Of A Mindanao Mafia

Kuratong Baleleng Massacre Revisited

Who Are The Parojinogs of Ozamiz

The Kuratong Baleleng Gang: The Untouchables

From Kuratong Baleleng to elected gov't: The rise of the Parojinogs

How Parojinogs hold seats of power in Ozamiz City

SC upholds dismissal of Lacson's Kuratong Baleleng case

Ozamiz City Mayor, 14 others killed in police raids

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