NOW that most of the members of the Casimero “Meloy” Garcia Robbery Group have been arrested, Cebu City Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador said they will shift their focus to monitoring and running after the robbery group reportedly headed by Roy Fernandez.
The Roy Fernandez Robbery Group, according to Comendador, used to be the unit where most members of the Garcia gang belonged.
Although the Cebu City police have not received reports on the presence of Fernandez’s group in Cebu City or in Central Visayas, Comendador said, “We cannot afford to let our guard down.”
Meanwhile, questions as to who should get credit for the arrest were raised yesterday, following the statement of former Panglao, Bohol mayor Doloreich Dumaluan that it was his in-house security guard who was at the frontline.
Dumaluan, in a radio dyLA interview, said the responding policemen were hesitant to enter the room Garcia occupied in his beach resort, knowing that the suspect was armed with an Ingram submachine pistol.
“My guard, who is a former policeman, went in first. The police only followed. They lacked briefing and crisis management that time,” Dumaluan said, referring to the responding policemen.
Dumaluan, however, clarified it does not matter to him where the credit goes because the arrest was a result of a joint operation by the police, his men and other agencies.
Garcia, his 17-year-old girlfriend and Gilven Nuez were arrested inside the Dumaluan beach resort more than five hours after the midday heist on the Bank of Commerce at the corner of CPG Ave. and Borja St. in Tagbilaran City last Tuesday.
The owners of Eskaya Beach Resort and Spa also corrected a Sun.Star Cebu report yesterday that the suspects checked in at their resort.
Cresencio “Bruts” Reguya, another member of the group, was earlier arrested after getting injured in a shootout with the bank’s security guards.
Dumaluan said the first to check in at the beach resort was Nuez, who arrived in a van.
Around 5 p.m., Garcia and his girlfriend arrived at the resort.
Dumaluan said the resort staff had became suspicious of the group, especially that one of the security guards noted Nuez’s injury.
Dumaluan said they did not waste time in calling up the Tagbilaran Police Station, Panglao Police Station and the nearby Bohol Tourist Police.
He also called up Chief Insp. Germano Mallari of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 7 for assistance.
Chief Insp. Jacinto Cesar, Tagbilaran City police chief, in the same radio interview, said he would not mind where the commendation goes.
What matters, he said, is that the robbery group has been neutralized and that they would continue to pursue the other members of the group who remain at large.
When they received the call from the beach resort about the presence of Garcia, they immediately headed to the area to arrest the robbery suspect and his cohorts, Cesar added.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Silverio Alarcio Jr., in an earlier interview, said the commendation should not only go to the police in Bohol, but to all those instrumental in the arrest of the members of the robbery group.
Alarcio said the vigilance of the public, support of the local government and the hard work of the police are effective in the fight against criminality. (JST)
