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Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Bogo Land Bank rob suspect yields, posts bail
The sixth suspect in the P9.4-million Land Bank heist in Bogo, Cebu last August surfaced yesterday, as the provincial police considered including a town official’s chief security officer in the robbery in band charge.
Ceferino Serbano, through his lawyer Salvador Solima, surrendered and went to the Palace of Justice past 3 p.m. yesterday.
He posted a P200,000 bail and was immediately granted a release order by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Simeon Dumdum.
Serbano is required to attend the preliminary investigation of the robbery in band charge filed against him and 11 others, five of whom are already detained.
Restituto “Aling” Yee, chief security officer of Bogo Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, is one of seven John Does named in the information filed with the RTC Branch 61 in Bogo.
Chief Insp. Juanito Enguerra of the Cebu Provincial Police Office said that Yee (not Cristituto as earlier reported) can be named an accessory to the crime because he told the robbery gang that they can sign for their meals at the Bogo Multipurpose Cooperative.
His inclusion in the case stemmed from the statement of suspect Dindo Ancero, who said that Yee told them that they didn’t need to pay for their meals as long as they signed for these.
Ancero made his statement yesterday in the presence of lawyer Hanibal Barruga Jr. from the Public Attorney’s Office and was subscribed by Masbate First Assistant Prosecutor Apolinario Macabe Jr.
In an affidavit, Ancero said he came to know Yee when he escorted Martinez in July to Bantayan island.
He said he worked for Martinez in last year’s elections as an armed goon and security escort for the mayor.
Asked when the last time he accompanied Martinez was, he answered, “Hangtud nahitabo ang pagpanulis (until the robbery last Aug. 2).”
Martinez has denied knowing Ancero, adding that he did not maintain armed goons for the elections because he ran unopposed.
League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Cebu chapter president Ronald Allan Cesante earlier defended the Bogo mayor, but the league has yet to come up with a consensus on the issue.
LMP vice president Alex Binghay said Cesante’s statement made last Sunday may have been the Dalaguete mayor’s personal stand because no meeting of league members has been held yet.
“Personally, I will support the call for a speedy and impartial investigation so we will know what really happened and what actions we are going to take,” said Binghay, mayor of Balamban town.
Naga Mayor Ferdinand Chiong shares Binghay’s view.
When asked for clarification, Cesante said yesterday that it was his personal support for Martinez as president of the league but the members have always supported his stand.
“Our next meeting will be in the middle of October and I hope one of the members will raise this issue so this will be tackled by the group,” Cesante said.
In a separate statement, Bayan Muna’s Arman Perez said the issue linking Martinez to the robbery was “a calculated move to destroy the credibility and integrity of such a political leader.”
Police hope that alleged gang leader Joel Sumabong will surrender soon so he can point to the mastermind.
It was Sumabong who allegedly instructed the robbery gang to camp out at the Department of Public Works and Highways building in La Paz, Bogo for a month.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is leaving it up to the police to check on the alleged link of Martinez to the heist.
Lawyer Ernesto Macabare, the agency’s second-in-command, said the unit did not take part in Ancero’s arrest and they had no part in the custodial investigation.
“It is up to them to pursue the angle. At our level, we do not have the information they possess and so we cannot act accordingly,” Macabare said.
Of the 12 persons allegedly involved in the robbery, two were arrested last month—Land Bank security guard Henry Cuerda and former Army officer Joseph “Jojo” Ancajas, who was served an arrest warrant for another case but was later identified by witnesses as one of the robbers.
Three more suspects were arrested last Sept. 20 in an operation in the mountain barangay of Kabungahan, Kawayan town, Masbate.
They were Ancero, 30, who was born in Sitio Anagon, Barangay Kabungahan but was residing in Barangay Malingin, Bogo, Cebu; Isagani Chico, 31, alias Tagalog, who hails from Barangay Acacia, Malabon, Metro Manila but was living in Sta. Fe, Cebu; and Felix Albores, 24, of Paknaan, Mandaue City.
Serbano was identified as the owner of the getaway vehicle of the heist.
Police and the NBI found the getaway vehicle, a maroon Nissan Vanette, with plate number CLA-333, near the Department of Public Works and Highways building in Bogo.
The vehicle was registered to one Wilfredo Garcia of Pulilan, Bulacan, but verification found that Serbano had bought the vehicle although he has not transferred it to his name.
Serbano is a former policeman who left the PNP in 1996 to join Filway Construction in Naga City in Luzon.
He graduated from the Philippine Military Academy in 1985, after which he joined the Air Force. (JGA/MEA/MBG/With KNR)
(September 27, 2005 issue)
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