After three years, Parañaque bank robber falls

After eluding arrest for three years, a bank robber was finally arrested Tuesday by the Parañaque City police in Cavite.

Suspect, Arma Bello Gonzales did not put up a fight when men of Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, collared him inside his house at Block 9, Lot 54 Area J, Poblacion 2, General Mariano Alvarez at about 5 p.m.

Upon seeing the lawmen, Gonzales’ wife, Suzette, immediately embraced her husband to prevent them from harming him.

Suzette even accompanied her husband during his presentation yesterday to Metro police chief Deputy Director General Reynaldo Velasco at Kamuning Police Station 10 in Quezon City.

"She kept on following her husband for fear that he might be summarily executed," Estilles said.

While he won’t be executed, Gonzales will be spending time in jail for his crime.

Police said Gonzales was one of the armed men who robbed the Union Bank located at the Tolentino Building on Dr. A. Santos Avenue, EVACOM, Barangay San Dionisio on Oct. 6, 2000.

The suspects, all belonging to the Lugnasan robbery group, carted away some P83,000 in cash, as well as valuables from bank clients.

The Lugnasan robbery group gained notoriety for a series of bank heists staged in various parts of Metro Manila in 2000. The gang leader, Vicente Lugnasan, was arrested and detained at the Quezon City Jail.

After being tipped off about Gonzales’ presence in Cavite, Estilles formed a team, headed by Inspectors Alejandro Casupang and Glenn Tigson to arrest him. Police were armed with an arrest warrant issued by Judge Rolando How, of the Parañaque City Regional Trial Court.

Gonzales admitted his role in the said bank robbery.

Velasco said the arrest of Gonzales was part of efforts of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) to serve all active warrants against criminals even if they are hiding in the provinces.

"Our cops at the NCRPO will go to whatever lengths to ensure that criminals are brought to justice. It is the commitment of the entire police force to see to it that there is no rest for the wicked, especially in the streets of Metro Manila," he said.

Another one charged

Meanwhile, a suspect in the robbery of an EastWest Bank branch in Quezon City has been charged after being positively identified by a witness through police’s rouge gallery.

Reynante Salvacion was charged with "robbery in band" for conniving with another suspect in the heist of a the EastWest Bank-Commonwealth Avenue branch on the morning of May 9. Salvacion and his still unidentified cohort, are still at large.

According to the bank’s lone security guard, who testified as witness, it was Salvacion who grabbed his caliber .38 service firearm and ordered him to lie face down on the floor.

He said that Salvacion had posed as a customer of the bank before declaring a holdup.

Bank employee Imee Alarcon, who stood as the complainant on behalf of the EastWest Bank, said the robbers managed to take away cash amounting to P32,000 from the teller’s cage.

Alarcon also said the robbers also took her cellular phone and wallet containing P1,000 and various credit cards. – Non Alquitran, Katherine Adraneda