3 payroll robbery suspects nabbed

Three men were arrested in a series of police operations in Parañaque City and Rizal in connection with a P500,000 payroll robbery in Taguig, Metro Manila police chief Director Jefferson Soriano said yesterday.

He said the three suspects – Rodelio Sangrio, 38; Rolando Manaytay, 30; and Ramil Reblora, 43 – were identified by complainant Mercy Abareng, an employee of Zanfabric Phils., as the ones who robbed her of the P500,000 payroll money she was carrying last Friday.

Soriano said the robbery could be an inside job since Manaytay, one of the suspects, works as a driver for Zanfabric.

Records showed that Abareng was held up at around 10:30 a.m. along the East Service Road near Katipunan Village in Barangay Western Bicutan shortly after she withdrew the money from a bank along Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City.

Soriano said Sangrio was arrested at his residence in Parañaque and Manaytay and Reblora in Cainta, Rizal. A loaded 9mm pistol was seized from Reblora.

Taguig City police chief Senior Superintendent Camilo Cascolan said Manaytay is the driver of the firm’s vice president but Reblora appears to be the one who masterminded the heist.

“His conscience got to him. He felt that his boss has helped him so much and that he only did it because his mother is in the hospital,” Cascolan told The STAR.

Police have yet to recover the stolen money and are still searching for the alleged get-away vehicle, a Toyota Hi-Lux. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Michael Punongbayan