Asiong Salonga

Asiong Salonga
Born Nicasio Rodriguez Salonga
(1924-10-11)October 11, 1924
Tondo, Manila, Philippine Islands
Died October 7, 1951(1951-10-07) (aged 26)
Tondo, Manila, Philippines
Relatives Fidela Fernandez

Nicasio "Asiong" Rodriguez Salonga[1] (nicknamed the "Hitler" or "Hito" of Tondo)[2] was an infamous Filipino gangster whose notorious life had been portrayed in several movie versions in 1961 (by Joseph Estrada), 1977 (by Rudy Fernandez), 1990 and 2011 (both played by George Estregan Jr.).

Asiong was considered one of the Philippines' Public Enemy where he reigned and dominated the Manila's then-known mob district, Tondo, for several years. Asiong as a gang leader had solid loyal 12 members of his group, with 4 hideouts in Manila (Tondo, Binondo, Quiapo & Pier). Salonga's name had been linked to several illegal possession of firearms, murder, selling of firearms, homicide, collection of sum of money from businessmen, and other unknown nefarious cases but yet somehow he had always managed to squirm out of arrest. Despite of this reputation, Salonga was still considered a hero by many native residents of Tondo, and thus earning him a nickname the "Robin Hood of Tondo". Asiong was recognized by many residences in Metro Manila because of being on frontline in several journal news. The only record of Salonga in the Supreme Court was dated March 28, 1946, which was concerned with his arrest without warrant on January 10 of the same year.[3]

The 2011 awarded film Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story is based on his life story. He was shot dead in 1951 by one of his companions, allegedly in a drinking spree, Ernesto Reyes, which had been speculated as a double cross by fellow gang leader Carlos Capistrano (alyas Totoy Golem) whom Reyes worked for. Some sources also pointed politics as another angle behind the killing. Salonga's death occurred prior to his 27th birthday.[4]

Media portrayal

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.