ONE of the lookouts in the robbery of two jewelry stores on Calderon St., Barangay Ermita on Aug. 8, 2024, was arrested after being reported armed at around 1:25 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 16in Upper Torralba, Barangay Apas, Cebu City.
The suspect was identified as Michael Obaob Puno, alias Mik-Mik, 42, a motorcycle taxi driver and former barangay tanod (village watchman) of Barangay Apas, residing in the area.
Recovered from the suspect was a .38 revolver with four bullets and two packets of suspected shabu weighing 50 grams with a standard drug price of P340,000.
According to Lt. Col. Maria Theresa Macatangay, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office and current spokesperson for the Special Investigation Task Group, Puno was positively identified after obtaining his image from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) near the two robbed jewelry stores.
Even though he was wearing a face mask, his face was still clear enough to be positively identified by a witness and another companion who is also a motorcycle taxi driver.
“Yes, this particular suspect’s face was exposed in that particular CCTV, so he wasn’t wearing a face mask. That’s why it was easy to identify him, or at some point, he was wearing a face mask, but our evidence shows that his face can be seen,” said Macatangay.
Based on the CCTV footage they obtained from the area, they saw Puno in the vicinity before, during and after the robbery. His role was to collect the weapons used in the crime and hide them.
They are now tracing where these weapons are, based on the CCTV camera footage in their possession.
“Yes, his participation was proven based on our evidence that we recovered. He was present before, during and after the incident. Actually, his participation after the incident was that he was the one who disposed of the firearms used in those heists,” Macatangay added.
Puno strongly denied any involvement in the crime, insisting that at that time, he was at home feeding chickens that belonged to his relatives.
He was surprised when police arrived at his house and arrested him for alleged possession of weapons and illegal drugs.
He was also accused of being responsible for robbing the two jewelry stores in Carbon, which he claims is untrue because he was at home in Upper Torralba.
“That’s not true, sir. I was really at home when that happened. They showed me a picture saying it was me, the bald one, but that face was round. I have a long face,” said Puno.
He went out that afternoon and even heard on the radio that there was a robbery in Carbon. When he went out near JY in Barangay Lahug, two people hired him to take them to Queensland in Talisay City.
Because there were two passengers, he called his cousin, who is also a motorcycle taxi driver, to carry the other passenger. When they arrived in Talisay, the two men, whom he didn’t know, took a bag from a gray Mitsubishi Adventure.
When they arrived at Queensland, a man approached him and introduced himself as a fraternity brother, recognizing him as a member because of the sticker on his motorcycle, and shook his hand.
This man turned out to be Marcial Ponesto, who was the driver of the vehicle, and they greeted each other and discussed which chapter they belonged to.
Puno believes that Ponesto implicated him in the crime even though he was just a passenger.
“He really included me in that, sir. I really wasn’t involved, sir,” Puno said in Cebuano.
Macatangay was not surprised that the suspect would deny involvement, but she described their evidence against Puno as strong.
Meanwhile, Macatangay did not confirm whether the mastermind of the crime, who is a member of the Parojinog Robbery Group, is inside Cebu City Jail, but they will look into the information received. / AYB, PJB