Robbers botch P10-M heist

At least nine robbers who failed to take away P10 million from a business establishment in Valenzuela City yesterday morning shot it out with Northern Police District (NPD) police officers who responded to the scene, seriously wounding two of them.

NPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Tango identified the victims as Senior Police Officer 2 Juanito Lazaro and PO2 Robert Vecida, both detailed at the District Investigation and Detective Management Division (DIDMD).

Lazaro sustained gunshot wounds in the right shoulder and elbow and is confined at the Valenzuela General Hospital. Vecida was hit in the right shoulder, chin and leg. He is being treated at the Manila Central University Hospital.

According to Tango, the two police officers’ wounds are not life threatening.

NPD-DIDMD chief Superintendent Rafael Santiago Jr. said, they received reports at around 9:30 a.m. of an ongoing robbery at Topmark Steel Corp. on San Diego street in Barangay Canumay West.

At least six armed men barged into the firm and hogtied its owner, David Choy, 48, and his four employees. But in their haste, the robbers failed to open the firm’s vault, which reportedly contained more than P10 million.

They instead divested the victims of their belongings, valued at around P40,000, including Choy’s P10,000 cash.

The DIDMD police officers, led by Santiago, encountered the fleeing suspects, who were on three motorcycles, at the corner of San Diego and P. Santiago streets in Barangay Canumay West.

“The suspects first fired at us for they saw our marked patrol vehicle,” Santiago told The STAR.

The first salvo of gunfire hit Lazaro and Vecida, who were in a red Daihatsu Feroza, which was also riddled with bullets. A bullet grazed the black bullcap Santiago – who was in a different vehicle – was wearing.

“There were three men on each motorcycle. One was the driver while the two were gunners,” Santiago said.

The suspects were armed with two M-16 rifles, a shotgun and handguns.

“We failed to immediately fire back at the suspects because the area is a tricycle terminal and was near a public elementary school,” Santiago said.

But in an ensuing gunbattle, three of the suspects were reportedly wounded and one of their get-away motorcycles, a red Honda Wave (TQ 3325) was recovered a few meters away from the scene of encounter. Crime scene investigators found a trail of blood that may have come from one of the suspects.

Based on the police officers’ and witnesses’ accounts, one of the suspects and the group’s alleged leader was a certain Gilbert Bautista.

Tango said that Bautista’s group was also tagged in the robbery of a United Coconut Planters Bank branch on E. Rodriguez street in Quezon City last Oct. 15.

The NPD police have been checking hospitals in the northern part of Metro Manila, Quezon City and Bulacan, where the wounded suspects may have gone for treatment.