Were they taunting the police?: Two robbers pull twin heists on lending firms

Two similar robberies pulled at two different financial institutions located just several meters from two major police camps within a span of 20 minutes both by two men caught authorities by surprise noontime yesterday.

Putting two and two together, the police believe that it was the same duo that did both robberies that netted P164,500 in cash plus some personal effects of employees and clients of the firms.

The method that was employed in both heists was similar. Two men would stand at the door of the establishment pretending to be customers and once they gain access, they declare a hold up and proclaim themselves as "vigilantes" who are not afraid to kill.

Luckily, nobody was hurt in both incidents, which happened just a day after the local police officials announced that members of a robbery gang from Ozamis City are in town to victimize banks and money-lending companies.

The victims described the robbers, who struck at A1 Micro Finance Corporation located at the Almase Building along Osmeña Blvd. to be about 5'7 and 5'8 in height. One of them wore a brown polo shirt and sunglasses and was armed with a .38 caliber revolver. The other one wore a white t-shirt and was armed with a .45 caliber pistol.

The two men used a red motorcycle as get away vehicle.

The office of A1 Micro Finance is less than 300 meters away from the headquarters of the Police Regional Office-7.

Raymund Moscozo, officer-in-charge of A1 Micro Finance said that they were busy with their work when two men appeared on their door and appeared to be clients coming to pay their obligations since they were holding money.

Supt. Melvin Gayotin, acting director of CCPO, told reporters that the door is locked from inside so one of the employees opened it for the two men to enter.

They were all surprised when the two pulled out guns and poked it at cashier Shane Maramara while telling the others that they were "vigilantes."

Inside the office that time, were three employees of A1 Finance and four clients. "Sigi sila ug sulti namo sir nga mga vigilante sila ug dili sila mahadlok mopatay ug tawo" Maramara told reporters.

Maramara said, the two robbers did not cover their faces. She said that fear pushed her to hand their collection amounting to P13,000, her cellphone and her wedding ring.

Other clients were not spared since they were asked to hand over their cellphones and jewelry. Annabelle Vargas, one of the customers said her P2,500 payment for A1 was taken including Moscozo's P5,000 cash.

The victims were then led to the comfort room where they were told to stay and the robbers escaped. "Maglisod na mi ug tawag ug pulis kay kami tanan gipangsud man sa comfort room," Vargas narrated. While Theft and Robbery Section was busy attending to the first incident, police received another robbery alarm around 11:30 a.m. This time it was at Asialink Finance Corporation along General Maxilom Avenue, which is also just about 200 meters from Camp Sotero Cabahug where the Cebu City Police holds office. The robbers carted a much larger loot taking away an estimated P144,000.

One of the employees, who refused to be named, told The Freeman that the suspects casually went inside like clients and suddenly pulled out guns.

The description of the culprits given by the victims was the same as those who did the first heist. The suspects forcibly opened the four cash boxes where the petty cash amounting to P10,000; P74,000 for actual money they used for the day's operations and the P60,000 collection that morning were placed. Asialink client, Dondon Reyes, who was about to pay his loan at the establishment, told The Freeman that he didn't know that the man who opened the door for him was robbing the place. After getting in, the man poked a gun at Reyes and calmly said, "ayaw lang kabalaka part kay mga vigilante mi."

All of the four employees of Asia Link and Reyes were also locked inside the comfort room near the cashier's table. "Wa na gyud mi mahimo kay armado man sila," Aileen Estrada, an employee said. The robbers also cut-off the telephone line of the establishment before leaving the place. Asialink branch manager, Mike Gentoliso, who holds office at the second floor of the same building, only came to know about the heist when he went down since he wanted to use the comfort room. He was surprised to see nobody at the office and had an even bigger surprise when he saw them inside the comfort room.

"Pagbaba ko, wala ng tao, pag-open ko sa CR,nanduon na sila umiiyak," Gentoliso said. Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch chief, Pablo Labra told reporters, "the descriptions of the persons who rob A1 have the same descriptions who rob Asialink."

According to Labra, both firms do not have their own security guards since they rely on the building's security personnel. Police also learned that both do not have security cameras in their offices that could have helped authorities identify the robbers.

Supt. Gayotin learned that the beat patrols of Fuente Police Station guarding the Osmeña Boulevard went to Southwestern University in barangay Sambag Uno since students were already going out for their lunch break when the crime happened.

Labra also told reporters that the heists looked well planned prompting him to believed that prior to the incident the robbers might conducted surveillance on the two establishments. He also believed that these robbers choose the said establishments to taunt the police force on their capability.

Asialink's area is under the jurisdiction of the Parian Police Station under Supt. Glen Ares while A1 is under the jurisdiction of the Fuente Police Station under Chief Inspector Henry Biñas. Both station chiefs will be made to explain where were their beat patrol policemen during the incidents. Gayotin added that they will be doing another redeployment and repositioning of their men in the areas that they think need more police visibility.

Two weeks ago police repositioned their men from the major areas to the interior parts of the city since robberies and other petty crimes are all happening at the said places.- /NLQ