Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Robbers strike at rural bank By Oscar C. Pineda Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Juvy S. Taghoy
WITH the lone security guard taking a toilet break, two men armed with .45 pistols entered a bank in Mandaue City yesterday and made off with an undetermined amount of cash without firing a shot or hurting anyone.
The robbery on Peninsula Rural Bank Inc. (Penbank) Ibabao branch on S.B. Cabahug St. at 12:15 p.m. was over in less than 10 minutes.
Mandaue City Police Chief Alexander Abadinas said the use of silencers on the guns is new among robbery groups.
The police, though, had a break in the case a few hours after the heist. One of the robbers was identified from a colored photo shown to a witness.
An official from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Theft and Robbery Section said in a mobile phone interview that the suspect is a member of the Bohol Robbery Group.
The source, however, said it is still premature to disclose the suspect’s identity because the CCPO and the Mandaue City Police Office are still verifying the information.
“We still need to show the picture to the other witnesses for re-confirmation,” said the source, who asked not to be named.
The source also said they will show the photo to other witnesses.
Alarm system
With the identification, police believe that yesterday’s heist and the P2.7-million robbery of a Metrobank pick-up teller last Aug. 13 in Cebu City are related.
Abadinas was surprised that the robbery was timed when the guard was inside the comfort room and the other guard was absent.
“When the guard returned from the comfort room, the robbers were gone,” said Abadinas.
Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna blamed the intelligence community for its failure to give warnings. He suggested setting up a “robbery threat alarm system.”
Abadinas said the two robbers fled on board a black Enduro motorcycle. Nobody saw its plate number.
Inside the bank that time were manager Mar-vin Soco, Nemi Apali, Janis Muñoz, Jonabelle Estabillo, Cherryl Camus, Ronald Ty and a certain Lolit.
What they did
Jovelo Jumawan of Socopa Security Agency was inside the comfort room outside the bank when the robbery took place. His partner guard, John Sabacajan, was absent.
Abadinas said the bank employees recognized one of the robbers going inside the bank earlier that day and asking about opening an account. The man then left.
When the man returned past noon, Ty, who was manning the door, allowed him in.
The man went to the new accounts section and told them he wanted to open an account.
Moments later, the second robber, bringing a bag, tapped the door.
Ty asked Estabillo if he will allow the man in. Estabillo said yes.
When the second robber placed the bag on the table, whatever was inside it made a loud bang.
Ty then suspected a robbery was about to take place so he left the door unlocked to allow the guard to get in.
The men pulled their guns out and announced a holdup.
5-7 minutes
Ty’s friend, Benito Desierto, suddenly went inside the bank while the robbery was in progress and the robbers pointed their guns at him.
They took his cell phone and told him to go with the employees.
The manager noticed the commotion but decided not to go out of the pantry at that time.
Ty said the robbers asked for the teller. Apali approached them. The robbers then grabbed the teller’s cash.
One went to the vault with Muñoz and placed the cash in the bag.
The robbers escaped on a black motorcycle parked outside.
Abadinas said five to seven minutes passed before the bank raised the robbery alarm. The bank called up its branch on A.S. Fortuna St., whose personnel then called up the police.
Abadinas said they had been visiting banks, including the one that was robbed yesterday, and pointed out their lapses in security such as the lack of a security camera.
No intelligence
He said the bank has three separate alarm buttons, which when pressed can alert the nearest police station. But nobody triggered the alarm.
Vice Mayor Fortuna, for his part, wants to know what the intelligence operatives have been doing to warn banks on the robbery group’s presence in the city.
“Apparently there was no intelligence activity to that effect,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
What he is proposing is for the PNP to have a “robbery threat level alarm system” that declares high level alert when a suspected robbery group is present in the city and when there is an increase in bank transactions.
An increase in bank transactions usually happens before and after a long holiday. Monday was a holiday to commemorate the death anniversary of former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
This is the second time a PenBank branch was robbed.
Last April 8, 2005, the group of Rey Torres robbed PenBank in Talisay City and fled with P854,000.
Torres was arrested and charged with the crime.
On April 19, 1999, a man tried to rob a PenBank branch in Mandaue, but suspect Romero Ursal was arrested. He had a warrant for another crime.
