Rob-and-Roll from Cebu to Tarsierland: Snapping the strings?

The name Casimiro “Meloy” Garcia may not sound a threatening head of a crime syndicate but this man showed the leadership skills that brought his gang, the Garcia Robbery Group, rocking some banks and business establishments from Cebu to Bohol and on a roll in 2007.

Those were the heydays of Meloy’s group but as the strings of their successful heists became too taut for comfort, the police was able to snap them all resulting in the group’s downfall.

The Garcia Robbery Group consisted of members who were obviously experienced and daring, and natives of San Miguel and Talibon towns in Bohol. They were Meloy’s brother Valentino (alias Ho), their cousin Sofroño Remoreras, ex-CAFGU member Cresencio “Bruts” Reguya, the “new guy” Danilo Flores, Arsenio Polo, Gelvin “Ginggong” Nuez, Al Fuentes, and some yet unidentified companions.

Completing the cast was the notoriously popular Rodulfo “Dupong” Atega Jr. who have several arrest warrants for robberies of a pawnshop and a gasoline station in Talibon and Tagbilaran City, and in establishments in Metro Manila while he was still part of the Roy Fernandez Robbery Group.

Senior Insp. Michael Bastes, chief of CCPO’s Theft and Robbery Section, said Meloy’s members formerly belonged to the Fernandez group operating in Metro Manila. They decided to form their own group following an internal rift between Meloy and Fernandez.

For months, Meloy’s group succeeded in robbing banks and establishments in Cebu City outwitting every police dragnet.

The group derring-do acts, including killing people who try to stop it, caught the attention of the authorities, the business sector, and the public.

Several bank robberies were linked to the group, which went on to deride the police of its seeming invincibility.

Last June 29, the Metro Cebu Public Savings Bank on N. Bacalso Avenue was robbed by the group, taking away about half-a-million in cash with valuables stolen from bank employees within minutes.

Not only did the robberies alerted authorities, these also prompted some banks and business establishments to enhance their security systems, and stirred the police to conduct more patrols than usual and dig deeper in search of the group’s possible hideouts.

Before the Metro Cebu Savings bank robbery, the City Police arrested Valentino in Consolacion last June 15 when they were about to serve an arrest warrant against Meloy for frustrated homicide case. Valentino fell all right but Meloy escaped on a motorcycle with Atega.

Last August 13, the group hit again, this time victimizing a roving bank teller picking up money for deposit from La Nueva Supermart, just a stone’s throw away from the Cebu City Hall and the Magellan’s Cross, the most visited tourist spot in the city.

Police said the group took from the armored van an estimated P3 million in cash and checks, then fled after shooting security guards Medardo Rama and Procoro Esguerra, who died of gunshot wounds on his neck six days after while being treated at a hospital.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Filomeno Lim, president of the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, expressed alarm over the incident. Several police officers assigned to beat patrol duties and in the Waterfront Police station were investigated for their failure to prevent the daylight robbery, even near the city’s seat of government.

The manhunt for the robbers went full swing and covered the entire Region 7, especially in Bohol, where teams of policemen were dispatched. Feedbacks came saying that Meloy’s group has the financial backings from influential and powerful people, some even military officials. These were not substantiated or was never proven however to this date.

What investigators discovered though was that the Meloy’s group had the pattern of using cars and motorcycles either bought or stolen from Metro Manila. This gave the clue that the group has behind-the-scenes linkages and logistical support from the Roy Fernandez Robbery Group in staging the series of robbery in the city.

Added to this information was the discovery of the group’s earlier plot to conduct simultaneous robberies in Cebu City particularly near the City Hall. This was proven, looking back barely a month before the La Nueva heist, when Lapu-Lapu City policemen arrested five suspects, including their leader Felixberto Aldemita, allegedly comprising the Aldemita Robbery Group.

That time, authorities discovered a sketched map of the areas near Cebu City Hall and the targets for the simultaneous robbery. The police however suspected that the map was intended to confuse the police because the police knew beforehand that robbery groups cooperate one another in striking their preys simultaneously.

Another twist to the case was when Brando Babao, a member of the Aldemita group, after posting bail for his temporary liberty was gunned down an hour after going out of a Lapu-Lapu City court. Two gunmen, who were tailing Babao’s vehicle, fired shots at his group upon reaching Pier 4 in Cebu City.

Lapu-Lapu Police director, Supt. Louie Oppus, and Cebu City director, Sr.Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, both surmised that the killing might have been done by Babao’s gangmates to silence him.

Despite the clue about the simultaneous robberies in Cebu City, Meloy’s group struck on its own and succeeded in taking the La Nueva money, catching the police off-guard.

There were speculations that Meloy’s group expected the police to suspect that his group would no longer pursue the plot because it was already “burned” after the discovery of the map. The group took advantage of this perceived conclusion from authorities so it decided to hit the target, which was “worth a try” anyway.

Surprisingly, Atega, surfaced at the San Miguel Police station that evening to deny he was in Cebu City when Meloy’s group struck La Nueva.

Atega’s appearance taunted police efforts in tracking the robbers because, by August 21, robbers barged into the Peninsula Bank in barangay Ibabao, Mandaue City. Two men easily entered the place just in time the bank security guard was in the toilet. The robbers herded to the bank’s vault six people who were in the bank then and ran away with the bank’s money from the vault.

Witnesses identified Atega, through the rogues’ gallery of the Anti-Robbery and Thievery Task Force, as among the Peninsula Bank robbers who successfully escaped on an off-road motorcycle towards the norther part of the city.

The police and the robbers were locked in a game of wits, with the latter getting the upperhand.

They robbers were on a roll until they shifted their targets to Bohol, the land famous for tarsiers. And thinking perhaps to stretch their luck further, they struck by robbing the payroll van of the Bank of Commerce branch in Tagbilaran City.

It was easier done but a big mistake nonetheless, as the bank’s guard surprisingly responded with greater tenacity to outdo the robbers. One of the robbers, Remegio Cañezar, got killed from a guard’s strafings of an automatic machinegun pistol during the ensuing shootout. Two guards, Tirso Pulledo and Meliton Lamoste, were also hurt.

The shootout also left Reguya wounded and the other robbers had to abandon him. He and the two injured guards were taken to the Bohol Provincial Hospital.

Meloy and Nuez were arrested later that afternoon at a beach resort in Panglao, with Nuez found suffering from a bullet wound he got from the shootout. Policemen also recovered from the two suspects a 9-mm Ingram machine pistol, another 9-mm pistol, but only part of the loot because the surviving group members had already divided the money among themselves on their escape route.

Also arrested was Remoreras, who was reportedly the driver of the group’s get-away van, and Meloy’s 17-year-old girlfriend. Two other group members, Polo and Fuentes, escaped.

The following day, the Cebu City Police teams of Supt. Pablo Labra, Sr. Insps. George Ylanan and Bastes arrested Atega in his hometown in San Miguel by virtue of warrant of arrest for the stealing the money of fish dealer Jimmy Montaño in a robbery at barangay Sambag Uno, Cebu City.

Polo was subsequently arrested in barangay Palo of San Miguel while Fuentes fell to the town police, with the help of the Tagbilaran force, in barangay Alegria.

Before the end of August, the last man of Meloy’s group was finally arrested but not mainly due to the robbery in Tagbilaran. He was initially rapped for violating municipal curfew ordinance in Loay town, 20 kilometers away from the city.

As the group’s members were hauled off to prison, Meloy’s fabled skills lost its tone and the notoriety of slippery. He then denied involvement in bank robberies and other robberies in Metro Cebu, insisting that he was in Cagayan de Oro City when La Nueva was robbed.

Polo also denied accusations that he was involved in several robberies in Cebu City including that of the MCPS Bank,  Du Ek Sam Enterprises along D.Jakosalem Street, and Vic Enterprise in Mabolo.

Atega, for his part, failed to have the chance to prove in court his innocence. He was gunned down last September 4 on his way to the port area after posting bail.

The father of Atega believed that the culprits in the killing of his son were from the groups of Meloy and Fernandez. He also accused the two group “leaders” of killing his older son Harry in barangay Sambag Uno last January when Harry decided to leave the group.

Bastes said that have reports that when Meloy’s group operates in Metro Cebu, the group of Fernandez was in the city and sizing up the suation. These two groups now have pending cases of robberies, which their leaders have strongly denied. — Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE