LBC-Taboan rob suspect falls, another eludes arrest

CEBU, Philippines - One of the suspects in the March 10 robbery of LBC-Taboan Branch was arrested by the police while hanging out in Sitio Alaska, Mambaling, Cebu City Monday evening.

Cebu City Police Office Deputy Director for Operations, Supt. Reycel Carmelo Dayon, said that 25-year-old Jerome Gonzaga who is also known as Balo was positively identified by the witnesses and the CCTV footage.

He was arrested for robbery and illegal possession of firearms in a joint follow-up operation of the City Intelligence Branch headed by Chief Insp. Romeo Santander and San Nicolas Police Station led by Sr. Insp. Chuck Barandog.

Based on the video footage taken from the LBC outlet’s security camera, the two robbers were wearing ball caps and yellow shirts. They were reportedly armed with .38 revolvers.

In less than three minutes, they took away P42,342 which was captured by LBC’s closed-circuit television camera.

LBC teller Danessa Zafra described the robbers to be medium built. The first robber was wearing a ball cap, a yellow shirt, and a pair of sunglasses while his companion wore yellow jacket with a hood.

Barandog said that they were able to come up with pictures of Gonzaga from their follow-up operations and presented it to Zafra who confirmed that the image of the photo looks very similar with the CCTV footage.

Dayon said that Gonzaga revealed during police interrogation that he was with Bernabe Buro, alias Bobby, during the said robbery incident.

He said that Buro was identified in the target list of CCPO. He added that the Bobby Buro Robbery Group is considered to be one of the organized criminal gangs in Cebu City.

He added that this group was previously arrested by the team of Santander two years ago but was able to post bail and operate again.

He said that it is possible that there are four or five more members of the said group and have affiliations from other criminal groups.

Barandog said that they conducted another follow-up operation at the residence of Buro in Dujo-Fatima, Cebu City at around 1:00 p.m. but Buro was able to escape.

The responding police was able to confiscate several high-powered firearms in Buro’s residence including one KG-9 machine pistol with 25 rounds of live ammunitions, a grenade, and two .45 cal. pistols each with attached magazine loaded with seven rounds of  live ammunitions.

Dayon said that the possession of high-powered explosives is considered to be a non-bailable offense.

“These firearms show how deadly and determined these criminals are in the pursuit of creating havoc in our community by way of robbery. Robbery could not only cause loss of property but also of lives with the aid of these high-powered caliber firearms,” he said.

Barandog said that the police continued to conduct the follow-up operation.  Buro who is allegedly one of the two suspects in the LBC-Taboan robbery remains at-large as of press time.

Meanwhile, Dayon said that the police force remains steadfast with its campaign on anti-criminality, pointing out the significant participation of leaders and constituents in the barangay level.

San Nicolas-Proper Barangay Captain Abraham Desamparado cited the significant role of barangay officials in disseminating information to their constituents that could possibly lead to the arrest of the culprits of the crime.

“Ako isip opisyal sa among barangay angay lang gyud nga ipahibawo ang mga tao sa klase nga criminal gang aron ang publiko magbantay,” he said.

Tinago Barangay Captain Joel Garganera who represented the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) urged barangay officials in Cebu City to encourage business owners, especially those that are involved in huge amounts of money, to put up appropriate security measures in their establishments such as CCTV cameras and security guards.

He also raised the need to organize the security guards in Cebu City to consolidate their efforts with the barangay tanods in the area.

He added that these security forces should communicate with each other through a common radio frequency.

He said that the campaign against crime would be more effective with the active participation of  the community and local government units.

“If the barangay and police will cooperate, they could accomplish a lot. There is really a difference if the public would help,” Garganera said.— (FREEMAN)