Guv offers aid for manhunt of Land Bank rob suspects

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday offered logistical support to the police for its continuing manhunt for seven more suspects, including the mastermind, of the Land Bank-Bogo robbery last August 2.

Should the police need it, Garcia said the provincial government is willing to provide financial assistance to them to ensure the arrest of the remaining suspects who have been reportedly sighted in Masbate province.

There were 12 men who participated in the robbery and the first to be caught were the bank's security guard Henry Cuerda and ex-military man Joseph Ancajas. A week after the robbery, witnesses identified them as among those allegedly involved.

A source from the Masbate Provincial Police Office yesterday said three more suspects were arrested last Tuesday morning in barangay Kabungahan, about 15 kilometers from Kawayan town in Masbate.

The three were Dindo Ancero-born in sitio Anagon, barangay Kabungahan but have lived in barangay Malingin, Bogo-Isagani Chico and Felix Albores who were earlier named as John Does in the robbery in band case earlier filed at a Bogo court in connection with the bank heist.

They are now in the custody of the Masbate Police and a police official from the Police Regional Office in Cebu went there yesterday afternoon to fetch them. They are expected to arrive here today.

This leaves seven more suspects still at large. But the MPPO source yesterday said Masbate operatives and those of the Cebu Provincial Police Office have continued their hunt in Masbate to arrest these suspects including Joel Somabong, the alleged robbery group leader.

With the arrest of the three suspects, however, Garcia said the case could not be deemed solved as yet because the mastermind is still on the loose. "There has to be a mastermind," said the governor.

But Garcia lauded the police for the accomplishment in Masbate. She urged them to exert extra efforts in hauling in the seven other suspects and see to it that the "strange bank robbery will not become part of statistics." - Fred P. Languido and Flor Z.Perolina