Friday, January 05, 2007 One gang pulled 2 recent heists?
THE Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is verifying whether the robbers that pulled off the two major heists in the city this week belong to one group.
Meanwhile, the Lapu-Lapu City police complained it’s been difficult to crack some major robberies—believed staged by the same group operating in Cebu City—because the victims have not pressed charges.
Cebu City began the year with a new acting police chief, whose first two days in office were marred by two back-to-back robberies. One suspect, however, was arrested only four hours after the first heist.
Robbery charges were filed against arrested suspect Ronilo Nuñez and his alleged cohort Doroteo Imperial, for victimizing Yusay Credit and Finance Corp. last Tuesday.
As for the second case, the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) came up yesterday with the sketches of two of the three robbers who held up the Cebu People’s Multi-Purpose Cooperative last Wednesday.
Apart from the Yusay case and the October 2006 robbery of Alano and Sons Finance Corp. where Nuñez was also tagged, he is likely to face another case.
Soft targets
Employees of a lending firm in Subangdaku, Mandaue City identified him as one of the two armed men who attempted to rob their establishment last Dec. 22.
Senior Insp. Eddie Castañeda, chief of the Subangdaku Police Station, told Sun.Star Cebu two employees of Sto. Niño de Cebu Finance Corp. on M.C. Briones St., Mandaue City identified Nuñez as the one who entered the establishment, while another one served as a lookout.
The two, however, failed to get any cash after the employees ran away, leaving Nuñez inside.
Acting CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador told reporters they have noted similarities in the two robberies. The robbers pretended to apply for a loan or said they were looking for somebody inside, in the case of the cooperative in Barangay Talamban.
Comendador believes these robbers have switched to “soft targets” such as lending firms and cooperatives, because banks and other establishments have beefed up security measures.
He directed the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau to organize a meeting with the lending firms to remind them about strengthening security.
Press charges
Comendador said the establishments could request for police escorts when transporting large amounts of money.
Most of the establishments hit by the robbers do not have security guards nor surveillance cameras.
It’s not only the Cebu City police force that has been kept busy going after robbery suspects.
But the pursuit of some of the major robberies in Lapu-Lapu City got stalled because the victims have not pressed charges.
“Ang uban kaso ang mga victim ang magkisi-kisi kay way nahimo ang pulis. Karon kami na ang manawag sa biktima kanus-a i-file ang kaso (Victims of crime often say we in the police force have not done anything. Now, we are calling on them to press charges),” said SPO1 Rodito Viovicente.
At least five major robberies were reported in Lapu-Lapu City since June 2005.
Mistrust
These are the gasoline station robbery in Barangay Maribago, where a gasoline attendant was shot dead; the Western Union robbery in Barangay Poblacion; the Alano and Sons Finance Corp. robbery in Barangay Pusok; the HR Taxi garage robbery in Barangay Pajo; and the robbery of an Agrivet Supply in Barangay Basak.
Lapu-Lapu City Police Chief Louie Oppus believe that it’s the victim’s mistrust in the organization that keeps them from filing the case.
“They generalize the PNP and we, being part of the organization, are the victims of that attitude,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
The family of gasoline attendant Junio Ortega, 21, has yet to call the police again to press charges for his death last Aug. 15, 2006.
The cashier in the Western Union Money Transfer robbery last Sept. 21, 2005 has identified a suspect, but refused to press charges. The branch lost P30,000 cash to two armed men.
Last Sept. 20, 2006, two armed men robbed Alano and Sons Finance Corp. of P67,000 cash. The firm has not pressed charges. (The following month, one of their branches in Cebu City got robbed.)
Help the cops
Motorcycle-riding robbers also robbed at gunpoint the HR Taxi Garage in Barangay Pajo and ran off with P30,000 in 2005. The owners refused to press charges.
In June 2005, three men robbed Agrivet Supply owner Lezel Tagalog Demecillo of her two cell phones, P6,460 worth of electronic load credits and P1,500 cash. She refused to press charges too, police said.
SPO1 Viovicente said he has reasons to believe the same robbers are operating in Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities.
Pointing out that it took the victim’s cooperation to arrest Nuñez, he said that things would be much different had some of the victims in Lapu-Lapu City filed charges. (JST/OCP)
