One of 4 suspects in LBC robbery falls

CEBU - The police have finally arrested one of four men accused of robbing an LBC branch in barangay Banilad last Thursday after witnesses positively identified him as one of the robbers.

But the 30-year-old Rico Opora Bontuyan, a resident of sitio Tanay, barangay Pulangbato, strongly denied any involvement in the robbery.

“Maayong klarohon na nila pag-ayo uy kun ako ba gyod… madaot ta ana,” he said.

Cebu City police director Patrocinio Comendador and Theft and Robbery Section chief Sr. Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes both said that LBC employees Giecen Mae Obsioma and Mary Caryn Nasataya claimed that Bontuyan was indeed one of the robbers.

Bontuyan, however, said it would be impossible for him to be involved in that robbery because at that time he and two of his friends he identified only through their nicknames “Toto” and “Ewing” were gathering sand and gravel from a creek in sitio Dita, Pulangbato.

Bastes said the witnesses recognized Bontuyan through his pictures in the police gallery which prompted the team headed by Mabolo police chief Claudio Casiban to pick up the suspect Sunday evening.

Bontuyan said he was in sitio Dita at around 7 p.m. while waiting for a ride home when two policemen in plain clothes arrived and arrested him.

The suspect was once collared for possession of drug sniffing paraphernalia. According to him, the case is still pending before the prosecutor’s office.

The robbers took around P80,000 cash and three mobile phone units from those who were inside the courier service establishment.

Cebu City officials had earlier encouraged the owners of financial institutions to install security cameras in their respective establishments to help the police in building a case against suspects.

“Tan-awa karon, kun duna pay security camera ang LBC, sigurado unta nga makita ang iyang dagway sa camera ug magamit ni pagpalig-on sa kaso bisan og dili siya moangkon,” a policeman said.

However, Comendador said that with the positive identification of Bontuyan by at least two witnesses, the police already have a strong case.

“It was already resolved in a number of Supreme Court jurisprudence that between positive identification and a mere denial, the positive identification of suspects will prevail,” Comendador said. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)