Thursday, August 23, 2007 Penbank workers tag Bohol gang
TWO bank employees identified suspected Bohol Robbery Gang member Rodulfo Atega as one of two men who robbed Peninsula Rural Bank (Penbank) in Mandaue City last Tuesday.
Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) Director Alexander Abadinas said the Penbank employees saw a photo of Atega and identified him as the second man who entered the bank and announced a holdup.
Atega has an arrest warrant for another crime.
The City Government plans to put up a cash reward for information that will lead to the arrest of Atega and his companion.
Two robbers, armed with .45 pistols with silencers, fled with the cash from a teller’s counter and the vault in less than 10 minutes.
No shots were fired, unlike the P2.7-million robbery on La Nueva Supermart in downtown Cebu City last Aug. 13 when two security guards were shot. One of them died last Monday.
Abadinas said they will invite Jovelo Jumawan, the security guard who was in the comfort room during the robbery, for a lie detector test.
Intelligence officer Insp. Ramon Villar told Sun.Star Cebu they will ask Jumawan to come up with an affidavit before they subject him to the test.
Not only the guard but all bank employees will be investigated by bank officials from Penbank’s head office who are now in Cebu.
The president of Minda-nao Rural Bank (MRB), Robert Cantoy, and two security officials arrived yesterday, MRB vice president Jaime Vargas during a radio dyLA interview.
Only security guard John Sabacajan is so far cleared by Abadinas, as Sabacajan left for Mindanao days before the robbery. The police director said the bank manager advised the guard to take a rest as he is ill.
Two men entered Penbank on S.B. Cabahug St. in Barangay Ibabao at 12:15 p.m. last Tuesday and pulled a robbery.
Witnesses said there were four persons outside the bank who acted as lookouts. The four were riding tandem on two motorcycles.
Cebu City police found abandoned motorcycles after the robbery, but Abadinas said none of these resembled the PenBank robbery getaway vehicle.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said he will ask the City Council to come up with a P10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The police are still establishing the identity of the other robber. (OCP)
