Valenzuela honors unsung heroes in foiled bank heist

The case involving the Banco de Oro bank heist last Tuesday has been declared solved. Top police officials, by the principle of command responsibility, the dead hero cop and the injured officers, who were among the first to respond, have been appropriately feted.

But what about the others who also put their lives on the line but only quietly?

In simple rites coinciding with celebration of "Paskong Polo," the traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Valenzuela City Hall grounds the following day last Wednesday, City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian honored among others, a woman, who unknown to many was instrumental in the subsequent arrest of all the suspects in the botched robbery.

Gatchalian publicly acknowledgted the heroism of former Valenzuela Vice Mayor and his current chief of staff, Evelyn "Jing" Hernandez.

Oblivious of her own safety, she acted as "spotter" for the lawmen then in hot pursuit of the fleeing suspects after robbing the BDO branch along Macarthur Highway in Barangay Dalandanan early this week.

"She is brave woman who risked her own life beyond the call of duty. The heorism she showed in that incident deserves to be recognized and made known to the public as a fitting example to all the others," Gatchalian said in praise of his assistant.

Vice President Noli de Castro, who graced the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, led Gatchalian and other city officials in presenting the award to Hernandez and the rest of the personalities that contributed to the arrest of the suspects.

Hernandez said she was doing routine work mobilizing and supervising the relocation of thousands of families affected by the rehabilitation and modernization of North Luzon Railway Corp. (NLRC) speed railway project and traveling along Macarthur Highway that morning when she passed by the area, with the robbery already in progress.

"I saw armed men in fatigues and bonnets. I didn’t pay much attention at first thinking they were our own policemen until one of them approached our car, a red Lancer with red plates, pointing his M-16 menacingly.

I told my driver (Oley Pinto) to reverse gears and get the hell out of there," Hernandez said as she narrated her story to The STAR.

She ordered Pinto to "hide" their car at a nearby Servitek outlet and called up city police chief Superintendent Billy Beltran on her radio about the ongoing robbery.

Hernandez watched and waited and soon, the robbers on board two vans and with their assault rifles thrust menacingly outside the car windows, passed by where she hid. By then, Beltran had alerted his men through the tactical operations center radio room.

Chief Superintendent Marcelino Franco Jr., former Northern Police District Officer (NPDO) chief and now chief of the Special Action force (SAF), upon receiving the alarm, quickly led his men in setting up and manning checkpoints in a bid to block off the bank raiders and intercept them.

Being familiar with the area as both resident and former public official of the city, Hernandez then led the pursuing lawmen, PO2 Victor Zabala, the only casualty on the government side, with driver PO1 Fernando Mariano, on trail of the fleeing suspects.

"I clearly saw them and their long guns when they passed. I also called the mayor and I called out to the officers their plate numbers as soon as I saw them. Sinundan namin sila sa lahat nang nilikuan nila." she said. By then, the combined forces from the Valenzuela police, the SAF and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-NCR have blocked all exit points.

The suspects then ran inside the premises of the Sherdan Auto Supply on San Diego street and made their last stand there.

Zabala made the mistake of stopping right in front of the suspects and got hit in the first volley from their high-powered rifles. Zabala failed to get out of the vehicle which was sprayed with M-14 and M-16 bullets. Mariano was grazed in the right ear and lived to tell his tory.

Also deserving recognition were the Banco de Oro employees who bravely pressed the bank alarm as soon as the suspects came in.

Not to be deprived of the recognition they rightfully deserved, the men led by Superintendent William Macavinta of the Camanava CIDG, who did the dirty work, tailing and surveying, keeping tab on the movements of the suspects they have been monitoring in the last one month before their fall, will be heroes too in the minds of those who have known their participation in the robbery that was solved in record time.