Suspects in failed Caloocan bank heist too early for cash delivery

MANILA, Philippines - The early bird doesn’t always catch the worm.

The robbers who barged into a Union Bank branch in Caloocan City around noon Saturday arrived more than an hour before a scheduled cash delivery, police said yesterday.

The 20 heavily armed robbers fled practically empty-handed after a 10-minute gunfight with four bank security guards, Caloocan City police chief Senior Superintendent Jude Santos said.

If the robbers had “chanced upon the two armored vans unloading cash then it would be a different story, but they came early,” Santos told The STAR.

The robbers, armed with high-powered rifles, M203 grenade launchers and .45 caliber pistols, barged into the Union Bank branch at the corner of Urbano Plata street and EDSA around noon.

They entered through the back door after disarming security guard Camus Briccio Jr. of his shotgun and .38-caliber revolver.

But the robbers did not reach the branch’s cash center on the second floor when four other security guards – Rapson Francisco, Llamado Paraiso, Padillo Lugo and Philip Bolasco – all of Soliman Security Agency, “stood their ground” and traded shots with the robbers. After around 10 minutes, the robbers fled, taking only Briccio’s firearms.

“Their movements were precise and they appeared to be highly-trained based on what we saw on the bank’s surveillance camera,” Santos said.

Santos said witnesses told them that all entrance and exit points near the Union Bank “were covered” by the robbers, with one wearing a bullet-proof vest and holding an M203 grenade launcher “manning” the EDSA entrance.

The suspects could be members of the Alvin Flores rob gang, based on their modus operandi “but we could look at them better when we get a copy of the video captured by the bank’s surveillance camera,” Santos said.

The suspects fled aboard three vehicles, but stopped to rob an adjacent Caltex gas station before speeding off toward Quezon City.