Bank robbers to strike when Estrada arraigned?

The police may have their hands full during the June 17 arraignment of jailed former President Joseph Estrada amid reports that bank robbers would take advantage of the situation.

A police intelligence report claimed that bank robbers would strike while the police are busy providing security to Estrada and guarding against forces out to destabilize the Arroyo government during the deposed leader’s successive arraignments.

Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Romeo Peña said he is aware of the bank robbers’ plans but stressed contingency measures have already been put in place. He refused to discuss the measures so as not to tip off the bank robbers.

Last Friday, President Arroyo warned that forces behind the May 1 bloody march to Malacañang are out to stage another power grab scheduled on the eve and the arraignment day of the jailed Estrada. Military and police intelligence backed Arroyo’s claim that wealthy financiers are recruiting from their ranks an armed component for their second grab for power. The 3rd division of the Sandiganbayan has consolidated the charge of illegal use of an alias with the plunder cases, paving the way for successive arraignments of Estrada on June 27.

Citing security risks, the government wanted the arraignment to be held at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) where Estrada and his son San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada are jailed.

Peña did not say which group of bank robbers are out to take advantage of Estrada’s arraignment. "My men are working on the intelligence report right now," Peña pointed out. "I expect to receive feedback from my men any time now."

But while Peña and the five police district directors were busy with their contingency plans, four men robbed Friday a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) branch in Makati City of P100,000. However, after only nine hours, a suspect was arrested by police who turned out to be a Taguig policeman.

The Makati bank robbery was believed to be a "dry-run" staged by the bank robbers to determine the "reaction time" of responding policemen so they could prepare their own countermeasures when they make their move on the "big day." The heist was the third bank robbery to hit Metro Manila since Peña assumed his post last April.

Police believe that the rash of bank robberies in Metro Manila in the past years are perpetrated by robbery groups headed by a Jaime Gonzales and a certain Flores. While the police are busy attending to the security arrangements of Estrada and the destabilization plots, Peña vowed to fully secure banks, shopping malls and commercial establishments in Metro Manila. — Non Alquitran