FB post leads police to arrest robbery suspect

CEBU, Philippines —  The Highway Patrol Group-7 has arrested the suspect in a highway robbery in Santa Lucia, Barangay Taptap, Cebu City on Sunday evening.

The suspect also reportedly attacked a habal-habal driver whom he hired prior to the alleged robbery.

The HPG-7 identified the suspect as Joseph Lacarion Gimongala, 38, a resident of Barangay Maghan-ay, Tuburan, Cebu where he was arrested at around 6:30 a.m. Monday.

A day before his arrest, Gimongala reportedly attacked Redfield Mariano, a habal-habal driver, who posted the incident on Facebook which led the police of his location.

During the investigation, Mariano's partner narrated to the media that it was around midnight of August 22 when the suspect asked the victim to take him for a ride going to a mountainous area of the city.

"Then sige syag ingon nga pa extend daw sya, then ingon akong paris (Redfield) na layo na man kaayo ni, ingon sya (Redfield) nga tawagon kuno imong ig-agaw nga mokuha ko niya, pag-ingon nga kuhaa imong cellphone, giabrihan ang bag, nya pagkuha diay kay kutsilyo then giana (pointed) sa iyang liog," Mariano's partner told The Freeman.

To prevent the suspect from stabbing his neck, Mariano held the knife away, injuring his hand. This resulted into an altercation pulling over at the area of Sitio Sta. Lucia in Brgy. Taptap, Cebu City.

Eventually, the suspect declared a holdup. As both parties fell down while Mariano was holding the knife to prevent the suspect from hurting him, the suspect immediately rushed to Mariano's motorcycle and sped away.

However, the suspect didn't noticed that when he opened his bag, some of his personal belongings fell, including his filled-up bio-data, which led the cops to identify him.

"Gi-post dayon nako sa Facebook kung kinsay nakaila aning tawhana mao to nga daghan man nakaila nga nag-message, mga silingan, mao to giaksyonan dayon sa mga polis ug kapitan sa ilang barangay," said Mariano's partner.

Police Lt. Colonel Oliver Plania, HPG-7 information officer, said that the Facebook post has helped them in their investigation in coordination with the Tuburan Police Station, resulting in the arrest of the suspect.

Plania said that in their initial interrogation, the suspect claimed that he has done the incident due to poverty.

"Sa kalisud gyud no, wala na syay kwarta, wala gyud ta syay plano unta nga manulis, pero while on the way kuno, sigun sa iyang estorya, iya tong nabuhat," said Plania.

Further investigation revealed that the suspect was a construction worker who committed theft in 2018 in Tuburan town.

The suspect will be facing charges of attempted homicide, highway robbery and violation of the anti-carnapping law. — GMR (FREEMAN)