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Sunday, October 08, 2006
Out on bail, man tied to robbery
By Jovy S. Taghoy
With Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- Suspected robber Dindo L. Ancero on Saturday accused the police of picking up a "fall guy" in the robberies of two financing firms last Thursday.
Ancero, 30, and Jangen P. Fernandez, 35, were arrested last Friday afternoon in Guizo, Mandaue City, by a joint police team from the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.
Ancero was identified by the witnesses and employees of A1 Micro Finance Inc. and Asialink Finance Corp. as one of two robbers who struck their firms, both within 20 minutes, shortly before noon Thursday.
Police, however, are still verifying reports that Fernandez served as the "planner" in the twin heists, considering Fernandez was a former client of Asialink.
Ancero hails from Barangay Malingin, Bogo, Cebu but now lives in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City. Fernandez is from Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City, and says he is a civil and computer engineer.
Ancero was tagged as one of the suspects in the P9.4-million robbery of the Land Bank of the Philippines-Bogo branch in August last year. He is out on bail, after raising a bond of P100,000.
Ancero and Fernandez were arrested after a tipster informed Superintendent. Pablo Labra II, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB), about the presence of a man whose description fit one of the suspects in the twin robberies.
The CIIB and the Vice Control Section (VCS) immediately formed a team to arrest Ancero and Fernandez.
Both suspects were arrested for alleged possession of .38 revolvers.
Ancero was also found in possession of one small pack of shabu in his wallet, while four diskettes, seven SIM cards and assorted checks -- believed to be counterfeit, from different banks -- were confiscated from Fernandez.
But in an interview over radio dyLA Saturday morning, Ancero said the police picked up the wrong guy because he never went to Cebu City last Thursday.
He said he was in Banilad, Mandaue City that day.
He played volleyball until 11 a.m. then took a nap after taking lunch. He fetched his children from school in Banilad later in the afternoon.
Ancero said he learned about the robberies in Cebu City that night when he watched a television news program.
He narrated that he and Fernandez were on their way to the construction site of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) at the Mandaue Reclamation Area, where he was planning to apply for work, when the police caught them.
They were arrested inside a silver gray Toyota Vios (XNN 480) driven by Fernandez.
Fernandez said he was an interior wall contractor of CICC and was helping Ancero to get a job as a construction worker.
The last time Superintendent Juanito Enguerra saw Dindo Ancero was in March.
Enguerra, chief of the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Branch, told Sun.Star Saturday that since Ancero was tagged as among those who robbed the Land Bank in Bogo, he had been looking for a job.
He said one of Ancero's options was to drive a taxicab.
"We haven't been monitoring his movements. I thought he had changed," Enguerra said when he heard Ancero was arrested for two robberies.
Ancero had asked Enguerra how he could get a clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation. Enguerra had told him that because of his pending robbery case, he may not be cleared.
Ancero, he said, had thought of getting an NBI clearance in another province. But Enguerra warned him that the NBI's system covered the whole country.
Aside from the Land Bank heist last year, Enguerra said they have no record of him being involved in other robberies.
Witnesses in the bank robbery failed to identify Ancero as one of the drivers of the getaway vehicles.
He was implicated in the robbery by Land Bank security guard Henry Cuerda.
Ancero admitted his participation.
He was instrumental in the surrender of fellow robbery suspect Joel Sumabong, his uncle, last February.
In the radio interview Saturday, Ancero said since late last year he had been out of job.
He denied owning the gun and shabu seized from him.
Labra and VCS Chief George Ylanan, in separate interviews, said the witnesses were certain about Ancero's identity as one of the two robbers.
Four employees from Asialink and two from A1 executed affidavits identifying Ancero in the two robberies.
According to their affidavits, Ancero was the one who told them, "Ayaw mo kahadlok, ayaw hilak, mga vigilante mi (Do not be afraid. Do not cry. We are vigilantes)."
Labra and Ylanan said Ancero and Fernandez will be charged with possession of unlicensed firearms. Ancero will also be charged with two counts of robbery and possession of shabu.
Fernandez will also be charged with possession of bogus checks after the five checks from the Land Bank were found out to be counterfeit.
The police are still gathering evidence that will implicate him in the twin robberies.
A1 holds office on Osmeña Blvd., a few blocks away from the Police Regional Office 7 while Asialink on Gen. Maxilom Ave., less than 300 meters away from the Cebu City Police Office. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(October 8, 2006 issue)
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