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Friday, October 06, 2006
Armed men rob firms near cops
By Jovy S. Taghoy
CEBU CITY -- In a span of 20 minutes, two moneylending firms in Cebu City were robbed by two armed men shortly before noon Thursday.
As if to taunt the police, the robbers struck A1 Micro Finance Inc. and Asialink Finance Corp., both located near the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), respectively.
The twin robberies happened less than a week after the police learned about the reported arrival of a Mindanao robbery group in Cebu last Friday.
In both robberies, the victims gave the same descriptions of the two perpetrators and described the same modes of execution. This prompted the responding police investigators, led by Superintendent Pablo Labra II, to suspect one group carried out both heists.
The victims also said that the perpetrators told them, "Ayaw mo kahadlok kay mga vigilantes mi (Don't be afraid, we are vigilantes)" after demanding for cash.
A1 Micro Finance Inc. holds office at the Almase Bldg. on Osmeña Blvd. in front of the Visayas Community Hospital, less than a block away from the regional police office. Asialink Finance Corp. rents a space at the Sergio Lim Bldg. on Gen. Maxilom Ave., less than 300 meters away from Camp Sotero Cabahug, the CCPO headquarters.
The robbery on A1 occurred at 11:10 a.m., while Asialink got attacked 20 minutes later.
Acting Cebu City Police Director Melvin Gayotin said last Wednesday that they alerted all the bank managements and establishment owners to beef up security, following the reported arrival of the southern gang.
Both lending firms had no in-house security guards and were only relying on the security personnel assigned to watch the entire building. They also had neither alarm systems nor security cameras.
Tricked
Shane Mara-Mara, cashier of A1, told reporters that one of the robbers approached her table and inquired about the requirements for a travel loan, because he wanted to go to Japan.
As she was explaining that they only provide salary loans, another man arrived. The two then declared the robbery and pointed a gun at Mara-Mara.
Apart from Mara-Mara, two other employees, including branch manager Raymund Moscoso, and four clients were inside the lending firm.
She said the robbers did not believe they did not keep large amounts of cash because all the loans were issued in checks.
The robbers managed to take P13,000 from the company's revolving funds and divested the people inside of their cash and other valuables.
Moscoso lost his two cellular phones and P5,000 cash; two clients their gold rings; while the other client was robbed of P2,500 cash.
The robbers then brought all the employees and the clients to the comfort room and told them to stay there until the robbers had left.
Information gathered by Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) Chief Ambrosio Ibones from people nearby revealed that the robbers fled on a motorcycle.
But just as investigators from the TRS and Fuente Osmeña Police Station were gathering information from the personnel of A1, another robbery alarm broke out, this time at Asialink on Gen. Maxilom Ave.
Bathroom
As with the A1 robbery, the perpetrators also pretended to inquire on how they could qualify to apply for a loan, before declaring a holdup.
The treasurer of Asialink, who requested not to be named, said the robbers took all the cash, estimated at P160,000, which was placed inside four small steel cash boxes.
The treasurer and eight other employees were asked to stay inside the comfort room too, but the robbers did not lock it.
The treasurer said she saw the robbers detaching the telephone wires from the receivers.
A male client, who arrived while the robbery was still going on inside, told reporters that he peeped inside, hoping he could claim his loan even if it was almost lunchtime. (By that time, the robbers already led all the employees inside the CR.)
The male client said that a man, who turned out to be one of the robbers, allowed him entry but then led him to the CR, where he joined the employees.
The robbery was over in five minutes.
Asialink branch manager Mike Gentolizo, who went down from the second floor of the lending firm to use the bathroom, returned to find all of his employees-some of them already crying-gathered inside the CR.
'Decent'
Labra told reporters that based on the descriptions given by the victims from the two lending firms, the robbers were about 5'7" to 5'8" tall, were of medium build and "looked decent." One was armed with a .38 caliber revolver, while the other held a .45 pistol.
One of the guns used by the robbers reportedly sported a silencer.
Judging by how the robberies were executed, Labra said the robbers apparently planned where and when to strike. There were no police beat patrols in the two areas where the robberies occurred.
Labra said he suggested to City Police Director Gayotin to assess the deployment of beat patrols divided among the police stations in the city.
Gayotin, in a separate interview, said he ordered the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau and TRS to closely coordinate in the investigation and identify the perpetrators.
He also ordered the Fuente Osmeña Police Station and the Parian Police Station, whose jurisdictions include A1 and Asialink, respectively, to explain where their beat patrols were fielded. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(October 6, 2006 issue)
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