Governor hails NBI, policemen

CEBU , PHIlippines - Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia yesterday commended the local office of the National Bureau of Investigation and the police for the arrest of the suspects in the robbery of a store at an upscale mall in Manila last month.

 “As governor, I wish to publicly applaud their accomplishment. We’ll give credit to where it is due, and they deserve that credit,” said Garcia in a press conference at her office yesterday.

 “We’re very proud of our local NBI and police. Hence, we have scheduled a special affair for them where we would be handing out recognition to all those involved in the operation,” she added.

 Last October 29, the NBI and the police operatives of Compostela tracked down four robbery suspects in an apartment in barangay Estaca, Compostela.

 The suspects, who were allegedly members of a robbery group that held up a Rolex watch store at Greenbelt 5 last October 18, were killed in the operation.

Police Regional Office-7 director Chief Supt. Lani-O Nerez believed that the suspects, who were led by Alvin Flores, stayed in Cebu to hide.

Nerez said that the suspects have contacts in Cebu who are familiar with the place they were hiding.

“I believed that they were here not to make any operation of robbery but to hide or palamig, “Nerez said.

When Nerez went to the crime scene in barangay Estaca to investigate, people and the caretakers of the apartment rented by the suspects were hesitant to give information on the suspects.

Cebu Provincial Police Office director Sr. Supt. Jesus Gaquing supported Nerez’s statement, saying that Flores and his gang were just hiding in Cebu.

Gaquing said they did not even anticipate the group to come to Cebu.

But he said after the robbery in Manila, they were monitoring whether the group would hide in Cebu, where one of its members lives. – Liv G. Campo and Gabriel C. Bonjoc/LPM