Over P13 M taken in twin heists: Tom offers bounty if robbers are shot

The Cebu City Government is willing to shell out P50,000 for each of the remaining perpetrators of Saturday’s twin pawnshop heists along Magallanes St. if a policeman would gun them down.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña yesterday said the city is willing to pay the amount if the suspects are gunned down when they resist arrest.

Aside from this, Osmeña said an off-duty policeman who can pin down the suspects would also receive P20,000.

Those who can give any information that would lead to the arrest of the six remaining suspects would receive P10,000.

Osmeña has already requested the city police to immediately release the cartographic sketches or pictures of the suspects so that the same can be printed in the newspapers to aid civilians in identifying them.

Loot

The owners of the pawnshops that were robbed – Agencia Anne and Oro Sugbu — reportedly lost a total of over P13 million worth of jewelry.

Sr. Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes chief of the Theft and Robbery Section said the owner of Oro Sugbu Ernesto and Josephine Siguan declared that they lost 9,730 pieces of assorted Chinese gold jewelry worth P11,712,500.

Ernesto’s brother Robert and his wife Nena, owners of Agencia Anne, reportedly lost Chinese gold jewelry worth P1.3 million.

Charges

Charges have been field against two suspects, who were arrested shortly after the robbery.

Emmanuel Alimbuyong Caraballo and Baby Toring have been charged for robbery with homicide and physical injury.

Bastes said the family of the man, who was killed after he was hit by a stray bullet, also wants to file separate charges for homicide.

Getaway Vehicle

The police have already traced the owner of the Toyota Lite Ace van with plate number GDJ-400 that was used in the robbery and abandoned in a small access road at Tres de Abril in barangay Pahina-San Nicolas.

Bastes said, the vehicle was reportedly bought last Friday, a day before the heist, by a certain Irwin Ignacio of Dumaguete City from a used car dealer in Mandaue.

The van was reportedly bought for P126,000.

Records at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) however did not yet show the change in ownership as the vehicle was still registered under the name of its previous owner.

The owner had sold the car to the dealer several weeks ago.

The vehicle was originally worth P130,000 including its registration and other documentation, but the buyer reportedly was eager to shoulder the documentation expenses prompting the dealer to deduct the registration expenses.

Mars Is The Answer

To prevent future robberies, the mayor said the city is taking steps to reinforce the Mobile Alarm Response System, the close to P2 million worth of technology the city has developed and maintained for immediate response to police assistance requests.

Unlike before when the subject of a criminal act would have to send a text message to the MARS communication center, Osmeña said the city is working on a system that would only require those accredited with MARS to press one button on the mobile phone to send the alarm.

The signal that would be sent to communications center at the roof deck of the City Hall would be subsequently disseminated to all police units in Cebu City.

Osmeña urged business and financial establishments to be part of the loop and recommended that each establishment should have an independent mobile phone specifically hooked to MARS.

The city maintains two mobile phone lines that are subscribed to Smart and Globe for MARS. Interested subscribers would be made to fill up an application form available at the mayor’s office and once the application is approved, the applicants’ mobile phone numbers would be registered with the MARS.

The MARS has two categories-the regular subscribers and the quick response team comprised of police, medical groups and fire departments.

Osmeña said the MARS was very helpful to the city during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit January last year and served as the backbone for the local police force tasked to augment the summit security and maintain peace and order in the city.

He Knew He Would Die

The daughter of Remedeo Dungog, 56, who was killed in the crossfire on the incident said her father had premonitions of his death.

According to the 23-year old daughter of Dungog, Marichu, in an interview with The Freeman her father acted differently as he kept on reminding her older brother Jose Nelson, that sooner or later he would head the family and take care of their small business.

Aside from working as one of the staff of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, Dungog owned a small business buying softdrink caps and cardboard boxes to recycle and sell it to factories making vinegar and soy sauce.

“Sa milabayng mga adlaw murag nanamilit siya namo kay magsige na siya og halog-halog sa among mama. Ang akong magulang (Jose Nelson) iyang giingnan nga ‘ikaw nay bahala sa atong negosyo ug sa imong mga igsuon’ pero gibalewala ra to namo wala mi kabalo nga maingon siya ani,” Marichu said.

According to Marichu, her father was waiting near the two pawnshops for Jose Nelson, who was delivering their goods to Talisay City when the shooting started.

Jose Nelson only learned of his father’s fate when he went to the area to fetch him.

Remedeo was his on his chest and was brought to the Cebu City Medical Center where he died.

Aside from Dungog, Ronilo Dadol, 35, a vendor of used clothing, was also hit by a bullet, but survived. — /NLQ