Thursday, July 10, 2008 Series of robberies strike Cebu City, northern Cebu
CEBU City and a northern Cebu town were hit by a series of robberies reportedly done by local street gangs.
This prompted Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Patrocinio Comendador Jr. to ask the new Cebu City Jail to furnish them a copy of all released inmates who faced robbery and theft cases.
Comendador said that he will furnish all police stations with a copy of the list of the newly released inmates and have these stations monitor and summon them before they are able to do more robberies.
Complainants
At dawn yesterday, a couple waiting for a ride was robbed by three men in V. Sotto St., Cebu City.
Juvy Retes, 31, had just picked up his wife Nenita, who arrived from Palompon, Leyte at the pier area when three men showed up and threatened them with a .38 revolver at past 4 a.m. They lost their cellular phones.
The three were also allegedly responsible for robbing the Ngohiong Express on M.J. Cuenco Ave. of P2,000.
When the Retes couple sought police assistance, responding police from the Waterfront Police Station caught up with the three men and began chasing them.
Shootout
The three fled to the interior parts of Barangay Tejero and allegedly engaged in a shootout with pursuing policemen.
PO2 Leonard Dinsay fired a shot and thought he hit someone but the man managed to hide.
They checked all hospitals for signs of the wounded man but he stayed out of sight.
However, in a hot pursuit led by Supt. Pedrillo Villamor, they arrested Rolando Mejarito, who was wounded in both legs.
Mejarito was also the one who pointed to SPO1 Adonis Dumpit as the one who shot him and his companion in 2004, a charge Dumpit denied.
An Internet cafe on N. Bacalso Ave. was also robbed by three men on a motorcycle past 4 a.m.
At 3:30 a.m. yesterday, an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency shot a man he caught stealing his fighting cock and several items from his neighbors.
Intelligence Officer 3 Filemon Ruiz shot Bryan Rabusa, 29, in the right leg after catching him bringing a fighting cock.
Ruiz, former firing range officer of the CCPO, left his house early to catch a flight to Manila when he noticed Rabusa.
Companions
Rabusa had been running towards a multicab where his four other companions were waiting with their loot. They had already managed to steal a washing machine and stereo component of Hildegrade Vince and three fighting cocks of Rufino Jose Gilburo.
However, they sped off leaving Rabusa behind.
Last Tuesday, a member of the Special Reaction Unit of the Cebu Provincial Police Office caught a man who had just robbed two jeepney passengers.
PO1 Juan Guromo was at the corner of Magallanes and Panganiban Sts. on his way home when he passed three men who were running.
When he looked around, he heard a commotion from a jeepney with shouts for help because someone had been robbed.
Guromo grabbed his gun and aimed at one of the fleeing men, identifying himself as a police officer. He arrested Rooland Matabalan Damas and took him to the Carbon Police Station.
It turned out he and two men only identified as Ron-ron and Gilbert robbed Myra Lu, 40 and Lyla Villameda, 23, of jewelry and a cellular phone.
In Borbon town, a collector was robbed by three men of more than P30,000.
Mira Villegas, 34, collector of Cebu Caritas Inc., was collecting weekly obligations from their clients in Sitio Lunas at 12:10 p.m. She hired motorcycle driver Fortuner Sino, 20, to take her there.
Just then, three men armed with a .38 revolver and a knife blocked the road and declared a hold-up. They grabbed Sino’s helmet and Villegas’ bag containing P33,093
cash. The three reportedly covered their faces with pieces of cloth.
Insp. Camilo Gonzaga, Borbon Police Chief, said they picked up three men who belong to a family of fish vendors for questioning. (MEA)
