Harrison Plaza robbers' car traced to military camp

MANILA, Philippines - Police have traced the ownership of one of the get-away vehicles used by the armed men who robbed Harrison Plaza last Tuesday to a military camp based in Iloilo province.

In an exclusive interview with The STAR, Chief Inspector Edgardo Carpio said based on verification with the Land Transportation Office the license plates (SFN-529) of the black sport utility vehicle are registered with the 1st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army based in Iloilo. Carpio, however, said the suspects could have used fake license plates in their operation.

Manila Police District director Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay is verifying the authenticity of the LTO records from his “mistahs”in the Army.

Meanwhile, six of the mall’s security guards will be subjected to lie-detector tests in connection with the robbery perpetrated by at least 10 heavily armed men in police assault uniforms.

The six – Rashid Alimowa, 36; Rolando Trinidad, 29; Alfaraz Ong, 37; Nestor Ardidon, 35; Christopher Labitad, 19; and Luisito Carpina, 29 – are employed by Kemen Security Agency, which supervises the night shift watch at the mall complex. They lost seven service firearms, 14 hand-held radios, cellular phones and jewelry to the robbers.

“We just want to make sure these men are telling the truth. We noted some discrepancies in their statements separately taken by our investigators,” Carpio said.

Investigators also questioned Ardidon’s claim that he fell asleep and failed to notice the entry of the armed suspects inside the mall through their surveillance camera.

Probers are also wondering why the guards failed to close the entrance door 15 minutes after the last delivery of construction materials.

The suspects also took away the close-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed inside the mall’s security office.