Marikina City set to ban cellphones inside banks

Marikina City is poised to ban cellphones inside banks to prevent residents from being victimized by robbers, especially by the so-called "Doce Pares" gang, whose members are mostly active policemen.

Mayor Ma. Lourdes Fernando urged the City Council to prioritize the approval of the city ordinance, following police reports that the "Doce Pares" gang might have been tipped off by an "insider" through the cellphone before robbing its residents in separate occasions in the past two months.

"We are still in the process of unmasking the bank personnel who were aiding the gang but we already recommended to Mayor Fernando the banning of cellphones inside the establishment as a preventive measure and she responded positively," said Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas Jr., intelligence chief of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

NCRPO chief Director Vidal Querol gave his nod to the idea as he expressed hope that other banks in Metro Manila would follow suit to prevent robbers from victimizing bank clients.

Rojas noted that only the Metrobank has a standing regulation of banning cellphones inside its main office and branches all over Metro Manila.

"Once the scheme is successful in Marikina City, the regional director wanted other cities and municipalities to do the same to make life hard for robbers to pinpoint possible targets," said Rojas.

A businessman, Edward Young, 24, has withdrawn P300,000 from a bank when suspected members of the "Doce Pares" gang opened fire at his vehicle in Barangay Concepcion Uno last Aug. 15. Young and his driver, Glen Magbanua, 47, were killed while the businessman’s wife, Sarah, 21, survived the incident.

Last Sept. 14, Erick and Rosanna Guevarra, has also withdrawn P90,000 from a bank in Marikina City when the suspects also fired at their Toyota Revo in Cainta, Rizal resulting in the death of their one-year-old daughter, Erica Charlene.

Three policemen, PO1s Candido Vallejo, Roger Villarente and Roel Palana, all assigned at the District Mobile Force (DMF) of the Eastern Police District (EPD) were arrested in Guevarra’s case. The fourth suspect, PO2 Joel Tapec, believed to be the gang’s mastermind, remains at large.

The suspects used a caliber .45 automatic pistol in the Guevarra case which Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, crime laboratory chief, said were the same handguns used in Young’s case.

Rojas said they have not yet pinpointed the bank "insiders" in cahoots the "Doce Pares" gang in the twin attacks against Marikina City residents.

Aside from banning cellphones inside banks, Fernando also wanted management to install scramblers or jammers to make it hard for the gang’s bank cohorts from relaying information to the syndicate.