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Thursday, March 13, 2008
Gang steals P1M jewelry of Cebuana Lhuillier
By Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- Five armed men wearing military camouflage and police uniforms robbed a van containing more than P1 million worth of jewelry of Cebuana Lhuillier at the Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge at noon Wednesday.
No shots were fired in the robbery that took less than two minutes to complete.
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The jewelry was brought from Davao City and was to be deposited at the Cebuana Lhuillier regional office in Cebu City.
Robbers also took P17,000 in cash and two mobile phones of workers who accompanied the jewelry shipment Wednesday.
The jewelry was placed in a black bag and was brought to the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) by four employees on a domestic flight.
A security guard and driver fetched the four pawnshop employees at the Mactan airport upon their arrival at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The group boarded a Toyota Revo service vehicle.
But as their vehicle navigated the curve at the Marcelo Fernan bridge on their way to Mandaue City, a dark blue car with license plate WEZ 717 overtook them and blocked their path.
Five men alighted from the vehicle. Pawnshop employees said the four were armed with M16 rifles, while the fifth had an M203 grenade launcher. Security guard Eutemio Estoce said two of the robbers wore police uniforms, while the three had military camouflage attires.
The five robbers then knocked on the windshields of their car using the nozzles of their firearms and ordered them in Tagalog to alight from the vehicle. They were then told to go face down on the pavement.
"Baba! Baba! (Get off the car!)" Estoce recalled the robbers as telling them.
He said two robbers stood at each side of the car, pointing their guns at them, while the fifth man stood in front of their vehicle.
Driver Jundel Sumalinog was kicked by one of the robbers when he refused to leave the vehicle. Sumalinog said he was kicked and pulled out of the car while the robbers kept demanding for his gun, thinking he was armed.
The six pawnshop employees lay face down on the pavement while the robbers took from the Toyota Revo's front seat the black bag containing the jewelry. They also took the shoulder bags of Arlene Lisondra, 35, and Nancy Llano, 34.
Lisondra, the branch manager in Davao, said her shoulder bag contained P10,000 in cash and her mobile phone. Llano said her bag contained P7,000 in cash and her mobile phone. Their other companion Dandy Anuncido, 31, is branch manager of Tagum City.
Estoce said he did not react when their vehicle was blocked after seeing the uniforms the robbers were wearing. He said they thought they were conducting a checkpoint.
"Gipakaingon nako to ug mag checkpoint sila kay naka unipormi man. Adtong setwasyona maka una gyod unta ko nila ug pusil pero sigurado sab nga hurot ming tanan ug kamatay kon dili pa atong police uniform (I could have fired first but I'm sure all of us would have been killed.)" Estoce said.
It took the workers 10 to 15 minutes to call the police about the robbery because they were still looking for a phone number to the station. The site was about 400 meters away from the Pusok police precinct, but the number that the employees got were for the main Lapu-Lapu police headquarters near the City Hall building, which is more than a kilometer away from the bridge.
Police Senior Inspector Conrado Manatad, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office chief of operations, said two vans of Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) operatives were dispatched together with five mobile patrol vehicles to go after the robbers, to no avail.
Manatad said the license plate of the robbers' vehicle could be stolen because a WEZ prefix means the plate is issued in Manila.
Wednesday's incident was the third big robbery in Lapu-Lapu City this year. Last January 18 the Mactan Rural Bank in Barangay Basak lost P1.5 million to two robbers wearing police intern uniforms. This was followed on February 23 when six men armed with .45 pistols took away P300,000 in cash and P100,000 worth of jewelry and mobile phones from a warehouse in Barangay Gun-ob.
Wednesday's robbery also revived an old plan to set up police detachments at the foot of the two Mactan-Mandaue bridges. The plan wasn't implemented for lack of manpower.
"Bahala ug kulang ta sa manpower, kay kining Mactan Island makalusot lang ang criminal kon makalabang na sa tulay. Atoa na gyod nang butangan ug police diha (Never mind the lack of manpower. Criminals can only escape Mactan Island if they can cross the bridges)" Manatad said.
Manatad said the robbers Wednesday were "professionals...well trained and well armed." He, however, said it was unfair to speculate whether they were soldiers or policemen. He said policemen in urban areas are not issued with M203 grenade launchers.
The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), meanwhile, immediately activated Oplan Universe after being alerted of the robbery. The operation plan requires police stations to put up blockades during robberies.
CCPO Director Patrocinio Comendador ordered all police stations to be on alert on the possibility that the robbers are hiding in the city.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Ronald Roderos, in a dyLA interview, said an insider likely tipped the robbers about the shipment.
"How did they know? There must be an inside information," Roderos said. He, however, said that he still has to receive a report from Lapu-Lapu City Police Office Director Louie Oppus on the details of the robbery.
Roderos suggested that the company tighten their internal security. If there is need for the company to request for police security escorts, Roderos said, the PRO 7 is willing to provide them.
Roderos said they just need to coordinate with the police so that appropriate action will be taken. (With JST/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (March 13, 2008 issue)
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