Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10th victim in Cabuyao bank heist dies
A BANK employee who was in critical condition after he was shot in the head during a deadly robbery in Cabuyao, Laguna died in the hospital two days after the incident, an official of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) said.
RCBC vice president Edwin Ermita said Isagani Pastor was declared dead by his attending physician at St. James Hospital in Laguna.
Pastor was the lone survivor in the robbery-murder incident that killed eight RCBC employees and a depositor.
With Pastor's death, police investigators are left with only one witness, the bank's female courier, in the robbery.
The other victims were identified as Roberto Castro, Ferdinand Antonio, Teresita Umayam, Noel Miranda, Juan Layva, Bernardo Lapaan Jr., Baltazar Aguilando, Olga Gonzales and Benjamin Nicdao.
Police believed that only one of the assailants shot the victims.
The robbers were already inside the RCBC when the employees reported for work Friday morning. They shot the employees in the head, which gave investigators suspicions that the victims knew the assailants.
The perpetrators also destroyed the bank's cameras and alarms.
Police are holding in custody two security guards of the bank for their possible role in the crime. The security guards already denied they were involved in the robbery.
The two security guards -- Joel de la Cruz and Regidor Sapun -- were "cleared" in paraffin and lie detector tests conducted on them by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
PNP Chief Aveline Razon Jr. said this means the two can no longer be considered suspects. He added that the two might be considered as witnesses should the police find new developments in the case.
De la Cruz and Sapun submitted themselves to the police over the weekend after they were implicated in the crime.
RCBC officials, national and local officials, families and friends of victims have offered a P2-million reward for any information that would lead to robbers' arrest. (JLK-UST intern/Sun.Star Pampanga)
