[5] In that year, a Waray-Waray gang kidnapped Chinese-Filipinos Virgilio and Christine Chua and their maid Analyn Simbajon.
In 2001, a policeman by the name of Superintendent Eugenio Casalme was killed by a Waray-Waray gang during a hold-up of a bus on route to Pampanga.
[7] In one of the bloodiest robberies in Philippine history, the Waray-Abuyog Gang shot and killed three policemen and a traffic enforcer on April 13, 2002.
The gunmen started firing their assault rifles on the police station, killing some while wounding and scattering the others, before escaping in their van.
[8] The robbers were actually robbing a large jewelry store in downtown Meycauayan, but they first attacked the precinct not only to take out the cops inside that might respond to the robbery, but also to lure the other policemen into this area while they escaped with the loot.
Victims include businesswoman Dominga Chu, and Coca-Cola Export Corp. finance manager Betti Chua Sy.
Mid-2004 also saw a gunfight between members of a Waray group known as the Sudoy-Sudoy Gang, and the combined forces of the Central Police District (CPD) and a Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) team.
[11] In 2006, Noel Enacmal, leader of the Waray-Waray Kidnap For Ransom (KFR), was captured in Barangay Mali, San Mateo, Rizal.
In December of that year, a Waray-Waray gang fought the police in a running gun battle in a subdivision in Parañaque that led to the deaths of 16 people.
Ten gang members, a Special Action Force personnel, a barangay tanod, and two civilians including a 7-year-old girl, were killed.
On the same year, two unidentified members of a Waray robbery gang were killed early morning in an encounter with policemen in Caloocan.
Isagani Nerez believed that the group was also involved in the recent gunbattle in Parañaque, as well as an armored van robbery in the University of the Philippines.
[16] In 2009, the Waray-Ozamiz Gang robbed a Malaysian national named William Yeo, who owned a moneychanger shop in Ermita, Manila.
[20] The police retaliated by killing 3 Waray criminals in separate shootouts, and arresting 5 more, with alleged help from Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
[22] On the same year, three members of the Ozamis-Waray-Waray group were killed during a shootout with law enforcement in a police checkpoint in Quezon City.
Six of them were killed in a shootout with the police in a buy-bust operation during the height of the Philippine Drug War, in Barangay San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal.
[3][32] The heyday of the Waray-Waray gangs gave birth to the negative stereotypical belief in the Philippines that the Waray people are a violent ethnic group compared to others.
De Cadiz of the Eastern Visayas State University condemned the actions of the Waray-Waray gangs and their effect on the image of the Waray people.
So that the periodic broadcast in national networks and publication in widely-circulated broadsheets of the notorious activities of the so-called Waray-Waray Gang moulded an image so repulsive and damaging to the dignity of both prominent and ordinary Waray.
[35] The 2000 action film Waray starring Gary Estrada, Daisy Reyes and Gino Antonio depicted a gang of Waray-Waray youths, who came to Manila in search of a better life but made the mistake of kidnapping the daughter of a powerful politician.