One of three men who robbed a businessman in barangay Bunlan, Santander town, last Tuesday night, has been positively identified as a man with a standing warrant for murder.
Robbery victim Rito Miparanum, a businessman and former Bunlan Sangguniang Kabataan chairman, said he went out of his house that night when the robbers appeared and declared a hold-up.
The three wore bonnets and were armed with an M16 rifle, a .38 cal. pistol, a Carbine rifle and a knife.
The men later ordered him to go inside his house and one of them fired a shot into the air as he was herded inside.
Inside the house the three also pointed their guns at his family members Loreto, Rosemary and Maximiana before taking P42,000, a ring, gold necklaces, a black jacket and the key to the family’s multicab.
Miparanum positively identified one of them as Mario Pasculado alias “Jun Garcia”, a native of Negros Oriental. The victim said he recognized the voice of the alleged perpetrator as the man always asked him for money to go home to Negros.
After the incident, the suspects fled to the mountains. But other reports have it they took a private pumpboat and fled to Sibulan, Negros.
SPO1 Manuel Regulacion said that Pasculado has an arrest warrant for murder dating back to 1993, the man has been known to move back and forth between Negros and Santander.
The local police are now coordinating with the authorities of neighboring province of Negros Oriental to capture the perpetrators. — Garry B. Lao/BRP