NCRPO to probe Greenbelt 5 guards

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) will investigate 33 security guards deployed at the Greenbelt 5 mall during the robbery last Oct. 18 after one of them was caught lying about his actions during the heist.

NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales said they will check whether any of the guards, who work for the Emirates Security Agency, conspired with the Alvin Flores robbery gang.

Retired general Edgar Aglipay, owner of the security agency, offered to subject his security guards to a lie detector test. Aglipay is a former Philippine National Police chief.

“Because of the inconsistent statements of security guards, I deemed it proper to place them under investigation and Gen. Aglipay agreed to cooperate fully in our effort to unmask the gang’s insider,” Rosales said.

He said he will file charges against security guards found giving false statements to the police and those who “cooperated” with the gang during the robbery.

In his report to Rosales, Southern Police District (SPD) director Chief Superintendent Jaime Calungsud said security guard Rock Paningbatan claimed that he was posted at the Promenade entrance and exit gates when six suspects wearing “bomb squad” t-shirts entered the mall.

Paningbatan said one of the suspects took his handheld radio while another took his metal detector.

A third suspect, whom he later identified as the slain robber Armando Domingo, grabbed his shirt and dragged him into the Rolex store located at the ground floor of the Greenbelt 5 mall.

Paningbatan said he was ordered to sit down on the floor while the suspects were ransacking the store.

However, Calungsud said the tapes of the surveillance camera retrieved from the mall showed that Paningbatan was lying.

“The video footage taken from Paningbatan’s post somehow tend to show the laxity in which the security guard conduct the screening and or regulating the entry of men in uniform and with visible firearms,” Calungsud said.

Instead of being dragged inside the store, the video footage clearly shows Paningbatan offered no resistance at all and was “even moving the table sideward to somehow open up for the armed men to enter,” Calungsud said in his report.

The video footage showed the time of entry of the suspects into the Rolex store at 11:38:28.

Another security guard, Glen Saez, said the suspects gained entry into the establishment on board two vehicles.

When accosted, the eight heavily armed men claimed they were responding to a call from Greenbelt 2. It was not known why the security guards did not prevent the suspects from entering the wrong building.

The suspects came from the ground floor of the mall, firing their guns indiscriminately, apparently to throw off Senior Police Officer 1 Cesar Tiglao and PO1 Efren Ceniza Jr., of the Taguig City police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), who engaged them in a shootout.

The security guards insisted they called up the police precinct whose jurisdiction covers the Makati City commercial district.

But Rosales claimed the police precinct has no records showing that the mall security guards called them up and asked for police assistance.

SPD confirms Flores led heist

Calungsud said it was indeed Flores, who also goes by the name “Bunso” or youngest child, as the one who led six other men in robbing the Rolex store of Tudor watches worth P6 million. The other suspects were identified as Roland dela Cruz, Walter Mutya and Domingo.

The SPD said Domingo was a former member of the New People’s Army who surrendered to the military. He later became a militiaman and was involved in crime groups.

“Police operations are ongoing against the suspects and we hope we can do arrests very soon,” Calungsud said. – With Rhodina Villanueva