Suspect Wilfredo Panganiban, 20, a resident of Interior Sabalo st., Barangay 8, Caloocan City, was nabbed while in possession of the stolen items owned by Carmencita Cereno, 41, of Block 19, Lot 20, Phase 2, Balsan st., Kingsville Hills subdivision, Antipolo City.
Panganiban’s cohort, identified only as Dennis of Gozon Compound, Letre Road, Malabon City remains at large and is now being hunted by the police.
Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr., NPD-District Police Intelligence Unit (DPIU) chief, said that at around 5:30 a.m., Cereno, a teacher at the Imelda Elementary School on Langaray st., Barangay Longos, Malabon, was waiting for a ride at a Shell gas station on C-4 Road corner Dagat-Dagatan Avenue, Caloocan, when she was held-up by two armed men.
Cereno was about to ride a tricycle enroute to the school when cornered by the suspects and, at knifepoint, took her brown shoulder bag containing P6,000 in cash, a mobile phone, ID cards and other important documents and several school keys.
The suspects, believed to be responsible for the series of robberies on Letre Road and in Dagat-Dagatan area, fled on foot towards a squatters’ colony in Gozon Compound in Malabon City.
Cereno immediately sought the help of the NPD-DPIU operatives.
At around 3 p.m., Ramos’ men nabbed Panganiban along Letre Road in Barangay Tonsuya, Malabon and recovered from him part of the loot.
Cereno complained that despite being known as a crime-prone area, no Caloocan cop could be seen at the vicinity of the Shell gas station in Dagat-Dagatan, especially during the rush hours when robbers and other criminal elements are known to attack commuters.
Robbery-holdup charges were filed against Panganiban at the Caloocan City prosecutor’s office. A P100,000 bail was recommended for his temporary liberty. – Pete Laude