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Tuesday, September 23, 2003
PNP told to solve P12M Lepanto gold heist
By Harley F. Palangchao
PRESIDENT Arroyo ordered the police Monday to immediately solve the daring P12 million gold bar heist in Lepanto Mines resulting to the death of five workers last Saturday.
Reacting to news report that the perpetrators were heavily armed, Arroyo ordered the PNP to track down the robbers with the degree of "decisiveness and alacrity" used by policemen in Manila in solving bank robberies.
Arroyo was referring to the Citibank robbery wherein 15 men with military riffles barged into the bank's tower in Makati last month and carted away a still undetermined amount. Some of the robbers were arrested by authorities Sunday.
Over at Camp Dangwa, Benguet, Senior Supt. Conrado Miņano, director of the Benguet Provincial Police Office, claimed the daring gold bar heist in mineral-rich Mankayan town was due to security lapses.
He said company security supervisors and the head of three private security agencies hired by Lepanto Mines would be subjected to in-depth investigations to determine the degree of negligence on their part in guarding the mine camp.
"How come this kind of violent robbery happened in a supposedly well-secured company compound when even members of the PNP could not enter if not authorized," Miņano commented.
He added that Lepanto employees and even administrators are subjected to thorough inspections before they are allowed to enter the premises of the company's gold processing plant located at the lower Mill Site.
Miņano earlier claimed police are looking into an inside job angle with regards to the robbery and killing incident.
"We are 100 percent sure that there is a connivance in the robbery and killing of Lepanto personnel. The site of the incident is a well-secured place and no authorized person can just enter the premises," he said.
He theorized that some of the perpetrators are familiar with the area and were wearing bonnets to avoid recognition.
Lepanto has yet to issue a statement if it has plans to end the contracts of the three private security agencies.
Meanwhile, sources from Lepanto Mines told Baguio journalists that the cadavers of the slain Lepanto personnel were already brought to their respective provinces.
The robbers ambushed site engineer Ricardo Tamayo Jr., security supervisors Francisco Mallare, Peter Chopchopen and company guards Abraham Damogo and Romeo Pongod while they were on their way to the company's general office from the refinery to secure the 21.8-kilo gold bar.
(September 23, 2003 issue)
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