THE power outage in Cagayan de Oro City proved favorable for an unidentified robber who barged into a financing company at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Unistar Credit and Finance Corporation (UCCF), which occupies the first and second floor of Egmedio Building, fronting two food houses along Corrales Street, is a financing company that helps applicants purchase motorcycles.
“The motorcycles are placed on the first floor while the cashier is located at the second floor,” said UCCF financing manager Rochel Madelo.
The robbery incident happened during a brownout, which was a possible great advantage to the suspect, said Senior Police Officer 1 Allan Radaza, the investigator of the case.
UCCF cashiers confirmed the police's claim that brownout had made the robbery easy, since the cashiers did not clearly see the robber when he entered the firm and held up the employees during a power outage.
“He was just a silhouette to us. When he got inside the office, he immediately locked the door, declared hold-up and pointed his gun to us,” said Iris (not her real name) who was still shaking when interviewed by reporters.
She described the robber as tall and was wearing a black helmet and a blue and black jacket.
“I was more scared when his gun had a silver-coated silencer attached to it. He whispered to me, as if he didn’t want to let the other offices in the building notice what was happening to us,” she added.
The robber forced the cashiers and a young customer to get inside the office’s bathroom and lock them there, while the rest of the employees who were in a separate room locked themselves during the incident.
The guard of the building said he did not notice any suspicious persons entering the office.
He was even informed by someone outside that the UCCF employees were held "hostage."
But he denied that a person went out from the office as he only saw the employees came out.
The guards do not keep records of people who come in and out of the building except for the employees.
The Divisoria police station has been investigating the incident as of this posting.