Bank robbers get life terms

A Manila court sentenced four bank robbers to life imprisonment after they were found guilty of robbing two banks and killing three people nine years ago in Manila.

Judge Manuel Barrios, of the Manila RTC Branch 54, said Norberto Go, Gilberto Tambio, Renante Nedia and Romeo Etang were found to have committed robbery and multiple homicide when they held up a PCI Bank branch on Taft Avenue, Malate on Feb. 28, 1996.

They were sentenced to reclusion perpetua, which has a jail term between 20 to 40 years, and ordered to pay the bank P1.1 million, representing the amount they stole.

During the heist, the accused killed bank security guard Jiver Pobre and bystanders Remigio Alcantara and Remigio Alcantara II. The court ordered them to pay the heirs of the deceased P100,000 as civil indemnity and P1 million as moral damages.

The same accused were found guilty of robbery for stealing P1.1 million from a Metrobank branch on España in Sampaloc. Barrios ordered them to pay the same amount to the bank.

"The fact of commission of Metrobank-España and PCI-La Salle Taft robberies has been proven, is conceded, and is not in dispute, and that the participation and culpability of the accused have been adequately established by the evidence," Barrios said.

Co-accused Jesus Santilises was acquitted since he was never mentioned as a participant in the robbery. Another, Jesus Sampaga, turned state witness while a third, Edman Mamposte, died while in jail in 1998.

At 9:45 a.m. on Feb. 2, 1996, six armed men barged into the Metrobank branch on España then took cash from the teller’s booth and forced the bank manager Carlos Manapat to open the vault. They took an estimated P1.1 million.

On Feb. 28 of the same year, the accused entered a PCI-Bank-Taft wearing ski masks. Armed with M-16 rifles, they ordered bank employees and clients to lie face down on the floor.

An exchange of gunfire between the suspects and responding security guards ensued. Pobre was wounded and brought to the Ospital ng Maynila, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The two Alcantaras were on board a Toyota Lite Ace passing the bank when they were caught in the crossfire.