3 robbery suspects slain in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines - Three armed men were killed in a shootout with police officers in Barangay St. Peter at noon yesterday as the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) was implementing stringent security measures to foil a reported plan to stage a bank robbery in the city.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula said two of the suspects’ cohorts escaped at the height of the gunbattle at the corner of Sibuyan and Malaya streets.

The suspects, on board a taxicab (TYD-919), shot it out with the police.

“We’ve been on alert as we have had that bank robbery threat for three weeks,” Gatdula told reporters.

However, QCPD Intelligence Division chief Superintendent Bernabe Balba said they were still checking whether the slain men were linked to the planned bank heist.

Balba said the slain men may be car thieves, kidnappers or burglars.

“We received reports that burglars had broken into this house in the past,” Balba said, pointing to a residence right across the spot where one of the slain men was gunned down.

He also pointed to cloth strips, possibly used to bind people, in the taxicab’s glove compartment.

Gatdula said a resident tipped them off about a taxicab going around the streets of the village.

Policemen confiscated a caliber .45 handgun, two caliber .38 revolvers, a hand grenade and a fan knife from the slain suspects.

According to Gatdula, the operator of the taxicab said its driver had failed to return the vehicle for almost five days.

One of the suspects was identified as Nestor Tiongson Sahagun, 28, of Tondo, Manila. The other two slain men have yet to be named.