High-noon heist at Meralco branch

Five armed men staged a successful two-minute heist of a Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) branch in Caloocan City yesterday, taking with them an undetermined amount of cash from tellers as well as valuables from customers.

The suspects, riding in a white Toyota Corolla taxi with "Morales" body markings, barged into the Meralco branch along A. Mabini Street in Maypajo shortly before noon when the office was about to close.

Lone security guard Eduardo Mengote, 23, of the Uniwide Security Agency, said two of the suspects entered the office by pretending to be customers.

Once inside, the duo pulled out their handguns, disarmed Mengote of his caliber .38 service revolver and announced the heist.

Three other suspects, one with pistols in both hands, barged in and ordered four customers and two Meralco tellers to lie face down on the floor.

"Walang kikilos, walang gagalaw, yuko, yuko (Nobody move everyone face down)," 62-year-old customer Matea Flores, quoted the robbers’ orders.

The suspects, armed with caliber .45 pistols, .357 revolvers and caliber .38 handguns, quickly scooped the cash from the teller drawers and divested customers of their cash and valuables. Police sources said a huge amount of bill payments could have been taken.

Flores, a teacher at Rajah Soliman Elementary School in Tondo, was divested of her handbag containing important documents and cash amounting to some P4,500.

"Ang bilis nila, siguro wala pang dalawang minuto ay tumakas na sila (They were quick, in less than two minutes they pulled it off and fled)," another customer, identified only as Anne, 27, told The STAR.

Before boarding their getaway vehicle, the suspects fired two shots at the Meralco office shattering the glass door.

The robbers fled toward Tondo passing through Hermosa Street, a witness said.

A Caloocan City police car tried to give chase but was trapped in a traffic jam. The suspects’ vehicle took the opposite lane and hit two vehicles before escaping.

Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, chief of the Caloocan City police Station Intelligence and Investigation Division, said the robbers were "professionals."

"They were watching our mobile car making the rounds in the area. When it passed by the Meralco office they struck, and once inside, changed the sign hanging on the door to "closed" so nobody would suspect what was happening inside," Borromeo pointed out.