Two teachers fall prey to crooks posing as parents

Three unidentified armed men held up two public school teachers inside an elementary school campus in Caloocan last Friday by posing as parents intending to get their children’s report cards.

Police identified the victims as Conrado Lardizabal Jr., 26, of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, and Michelle Ares, 24, of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan. Both are teachers of the Bagong Silang Elementary School located in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City.

Police investigator PO1 Jose Bagting said the heist occurred at around 10:15 a.m. while the victims were at the lobby of the Arsenio building of the school distributing the report cards of their pupils.

Three men arrived and pretended to be parents.

The teachers, however, were surprised when the three "parents" pulled out their handguns and announced a holdup, Bagting said.

The suspects divested the teachers of their cash and valuables, including Ares’ cellular phone and Lardizabal’s gold necklace right in front of shocked pupils.

The suspects easily escaped with their loot by scaling the school’s concrete fence, Bagting said.

The teachers, he said, continued distributing report cards after reporting the incident. Police hunted down the suspects but came up empty-handed. – Pete Laude