Mayor Tom blames self for series of robberies

Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said the police should not be blamed for the series of robberies that hit the city recently.

"It's more of my fault and not Comendador's fault. I don't want to pass the blame on a fall guy who just assumed (as city police chief)," he said, explaining that he took the blame because "I'm the mayor and I'm not going to pass the blame on Comendador. The guy is just new there."

Also, Osmeña blamed the management of Anchor Savings Bank, the latest victim of five robberies to have hit this year, for not using their alarm system and for employing only one security guard.

"I'm not going to tell the police you are given 48 hours to solve this. I know they are working very hard," the official added.

He said banks fell prey to robbers because they do not employ proper security measures, especially effective alarm systems for them to use in case of robberies.

"The banks refuse to cooperate. And I suspect the reason they refuse to participate is they'd rather be robbed, as they are insured anyway," Osmeña said. "This actually puts the city government and our reputation at risk."

Further, Osmeña said that the city government has also realized that to solve robberies, authorities should have very effective response time. In the case of Anchor Savings Bank, he added that the management only called the police 10 minutes after the robbery happened.

"The bank is easy to rob because they don't care. They have one security guard and they called the police 10 minutes after the robbery," the local chief executive added.

The mayor admitted however that there is no immediate solution to the series of robberies, but said alarm systems that are institutionalized should be set up in banks and everybody should be encouraged to participate.

To do this, Osmeña revealed he is planning to use one bank as model. The bank would have security alarm systems and that he would be telling people to "bank on this bank because this is better secured than other banks."

Osmeña also said that he believes two groups from Mindanao are working together to perpetrate the recent robberies in the city, adding police investigations are pointing to the two groups as responsible for the heists. - Wenna A. Berondo