Bernabe offers reward for robbery leader’s head

Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe is offering a P100,000 reward to anyone able to provide the police with information that will lead to the capture of a notorious robbery group leader who led an attempt to rob an armored van outside a shopping mall in the city last Monday.

Parañaque police chief Superintendent Ronald Estilles said his men are also conducting follow-up operations against Rey Gilbert Colangco, who has a standing warrant for murder and robbery.

“Mayor Bernabe is putting up a P100,000 reward for him as leader of the Ampang Group,” he told The STAR in an interview yesterday.

Estilles said four of Colangco’s cohorts in last Monday’s armored van robbery attempt outside the mall have also been identified.

Estilles said Bobby Baliber, Genevieve Calunod, Rey Noquiao and Raymond Mapira were identified through witnesses and video footages while in a shootout with security guards.

Two people were killed while four others were injured in the incident. The suspects fled the scene using a number of getaway vehicles after the firefight. Police later recovered two of the getaway cars. 

“They all have previous records and they have photos in our gallery of known robbers,” Estilles said, noting that the Ampang Group operates in a number of areas, including Metro Manila and southern Luzon. 

He said Colangco’s group is believed to be involved in various bank robberies, including a heist inside the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City last year.

“They were involved in not lower than 10 bank robberies,” Estilles said, assuring that Parañaque policemen are now tracking down the group’s members.

He said those who were hurt in last Monday’s robbery attempt have been declared out of danger after being treated at the Olivares Hospital.  – Michael Punongbayan