Friday, February 22, 2008 3 armed men rob company By Jovy S. Taghoy Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THREE men armed with pistols robbed a money lending firm located just a block away from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) headquarters yesterday afternoon.
Robbers pulled off the heist in less than 10 minutes, taking P25,000 in cash and three cellular phones from A-1 Financial Services Inc.’s branch along Gen. Maxilom Ave.
Not a single shot was fired during the robbery past 2 p.m. yesterday, the first major heist in the city this year, a police official said.
Through photographs from the rogues’ gallery of the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS), the three female employees identified two of the three robbers as Doroteo Imperial, a robbery gang leader, and Danilo Flores, a former security guard who was tagged as one of the suspects in the La Nueva Supermart robbery in August last year.
The lending firm does not have a security guard or a surveillance camera.
Helsa Sarines, the firm’s officer-in-charge for current accounts, told SPO3 Ulysses Racaza of the TRS that the three robbers entered their office and posed as clients who wanted to avail themselves of the company’s money transfer service.
Sarines, 36, said Flores stayed behind the tinted glass door of the office while Imperial and the unidentified cohort approached the counter.
When Sarines asked Imperial where he would send the money, Imperial and the unidentified cohort pulled out their pistols from their waistband and declared a holdup.
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She also saw Flores pulling out a gun.
“Duko! Ayaw tan-aw! Asa’ng kwarta?” Imperial reportedly told Sarines and the two other female employees identified as accountant Evelyn Tabanao, 22, and cashier Mayen Bautista, 26, who were all shaking in fear.
Sarines, who was hugging Tabanao, instructed Bautista to hand over the cash placed inside the drawer. She estimated the cash to be around P25,000.
“Giingnan na lang nako ang cashier nga ihatag na lang ang kwarta kay gitiunan naman mi (I told our cashier to just turn over the money because they were already pointing their gun at us),” Sarines said.
Imperial also found and tried to open the cash box but failed to do so.
Sarines said the cash box only contained a Nokia 2100 cellular phone. There was no money inside.
Before leaving the office, the robbers also took Sarines’ cellular phone, a Nokia 3315, and the firm’s cellular phone, a Nokia 1100.
Sarines said she could not say if the robbery suspects had getaway vehicles, but TRS Chief Michael Anthony Bastes said they learned from witnesses that two motorcycles were used.
Because Imperial’s group did not cut off the telephone wires, Sarines was able to call the firm’s officer-in-charge for past accounts, Edgar Andilab, who was out of the office at the time of the robbery.
Andilab then called the police hotline 166 for assistance.
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A team of policemen from Fuente Osmeña Police Station and investigators from the TRS rushed to the area.
In an interview with reporters, Andilab said their Gen. Maxilom branch was the second outlet to be robbed.
Last Oct. 5, 2006, two armed men also robbed the lending firm’s branch along Osmeña Blvd., located near the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 headquarters.
On the same day, just 20 minutes after the heist on Osmeña Blvd., the same robbery suspects robbed Asialink Finance Corp., which is located across the A-1 Financial Services’ branch that was robbed yesterday.
Suspected robber Dindo Ancero was arrested by a team of CCPO policemen led by Supt. Pablo Labra II less than 24 hours after the Oct. 5 twin robberies.
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Ancero, who has been charged with robbery cases, was identified by the witnesses and employees of A-1 and Asialink as one of the two robbers who struck their firms.
According to TRS Chief Bastes, yesterday’s incident was the first major heist in the city this year.
Bastes believes that Imperial’s group is trying to raise money for the bail bond of another robbery suspect, Junard Saladaga, who was arrested in Pagadian City two weeks ago by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group based in Mindanao.
Bastes said he received reports that Saladaga will be brought to Cebu City anytime because the warrant for his arrest was issued by a court in Cebu.
Bastes said that Imperial and Saladaga are among the remaining members of the robbery group formed by jailed leaders Rey Torres and Danny Limotan.
