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Thursday, August 14, 2003
Robbers torch rural bank vault, grab P1.2M
By Harley Palangchao
BENGUET -- Unidentified men torched open the vault of the Rural Bank of Buguias in Bauko, Mt. Province and carted away P1.2 million in cash and other valuables, police said.
Supt. Charlo Collado, chief of the Intelligence and Investigation Division of the Police Regional Office in the Cordilleras, said he incident happened early morning on Sunday. The robbers used an acetylene torch.
He believed the money and valuables carted away by the robbers involved the hard-earned money of farmers and businessmen in Bauko and nearby towns.
An investigation is now ongoing to determine if management committed lapses, saying no security guard was detailed at the bank during the incident.
Sr. Supt. William Aspilan, Mt. Province Provincial Police Office director, told Sun.Star in a telephone interview that police are hunting down the robbers.
The August 10 incident was the second robbery to happen involving a bank north of Baguio this year.
Last March 25, seven armed men also robbed a Land Bank of the Philippines vehicle carrying collections amounting to P15 million along Abatan, Buguias, Benguet, which is a few kilometers away from the Rural Bank of Buguias.
Operatives of the Benguet Provincial Police Office recently arrested the supposed leader of the armed group, Marcelino Nginhina.
A former policeman, Nginhina was eventually allowed to post P200,000 in exchange for his temporary liberty, to the dismay of the Benguet police.
Three armed likewise robbed the cashier of a gasoline station in Tabuk, Kalinga also on August 10, Collado reported.
Police identified two of the suspects as Freddie Tumbali and a certain Agatep.
Collado said the robbers poked their guns at the cashier and demanded her total collections for that day, which reached P10,000.
A firefight ensued between the robbers and Police Officer 2 Roxas Robert, who responded to the alarm. The robbers, however, were able to flee before more police arrived to assist Robert in arresting the suspects. Sun.Star Baguio
(August 13, 2003 issue)
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