Thursday, May 01, 2008 Carcar police to get promotion, commendations for foiling robbery
FOR foiling a bank heist that ended in the killing of one robber and wounding of another in Carcar City, Cebu, recommendations for spot promotion and commendations await the city’s policemen.
That, as authorities began gathering intelligence information on the whereabouts and hideouts of other members of the robbery group.
Senior Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) director, and Senior Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director, are closely coordinating with each other on the hunt.
Comendador believed that Roy Fernandez and his gang could not have staged any robbery without local contacts.
Valmoria, on the other hand, confirmed what Senior Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes of the Cebu City Theft and Robbery Section said earlier—that those involved in the Carcar robbery belong to the same group that victimized X-change Money Changer Shop in Cebu City.
Leader
The group is allegedly headed by Fernandez, an alleged former member of the Mindanao-based Kuratong Baleleng Gang.
Fernandez, identified as one of four men responsible for the money-changer shop robbery, was tagged as one of five people who disembarked from the Mitbushi Lancer that Nelson Gutierrez Jr. and Ricoly Igoy rode before robbing the Carcar rural bank.
Gutierrez was shot dead while Igoy was wounded when they engaged responding policemen in a shootout.
Yesterday, a customs broker of an international cargo forwarding company furnished Sun.Star Cebu a copy of the deed of sale on the Mitsubishi Lancer used in the robbery.
Edward L. Gonzaga of Cubacub, Mandaue City said Gutierrez of Mahayahay, Bangkal, Lapu-Lapu City bought the car last Feb. 5. The sale was witnessed by Dennydex Lawas and Elpedio Cabrera Jr. and was notarized on the same day by lawyer Dario D. Rama.
Ownership
Gonzaga said he was forced to come out because his name was dragged to the Carcar robbery. He said he does not know why Gutierrez did not immediately transfer the ownership of the car to his name with the Land Transportation Office.
But, he said, the car’s registration was scheduled for renewal this September. Gonzaga said Gutierrez might have been planning to transfer the vehicle’s ownership during the renewal of registration.
Gonzaga said he already furnished copies of the deed of sale to the police in the cities of Carcar, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu to clear his name.
Both Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos and Valmoria said SPO1s Meliton Agadier and Kenneth Abella and the other police officers deserve rewards for a good job during the robbery.
In yesterday’s monthly Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (Tsip) forum, Roderos said the skill showed by the policemen in trading shots with Gutierrez and Igoy without hurting civilians was a result of the regional office’s regular firearms proficiency training.
Gutierrez and Igoy robbed Rural Bank of Cebu South, Inc. last Monday.
The bank manager, however, managed to slip unnoticed and reported the robbery to the nearby police station. Cornered, the robbers held hostage one bank employee.
Transfer
Agadier shot dead Gutierrez when the hostage he was holding ducked, giving the policeman a clear shot.
On Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s willingness to “highly recommend” Agadier to be transferred to Cebu City, Roderos said the Philippine National Police has a policy of “localization of assignment of policemen,” where a personnel gets to be assigned in his hometown or in a nearby locality.
A certificate of availability is likewise required.
Roderos, though, said Agadier has the final say on whether he likes to be transferred to Cebu City.
Valmoria, on the other hand, said Agadier is an asset to the Carcar City Police Station.
Policemen like him are needed not only in Carcar but in other areas of the province as well, the CPPO director said.
Valmoria said that days prior to the Carcar City robbery, his office was informed by their Cebu City counterparts about the Roy Fernandez Robbery Group’s arrival.
It was not determined that time, however, where and when the group will strike.
Both the CCPO and the CPPO alerted establishments in their respective areas of jurisdiction to step up security measures after receiving the report. (JST/With EOB)
