Robbers shoot second Valenzuela bank client in a month

MANILA, Philippines - Two motorcycle-riding robbers shot a businesswoman who had withdrawn cash from a bank in Valenzuela City Friday afternoon, the second such case reported in a month.

Nita Co Chua, 39, a resident of Barangay Arkong Bato in Valenzuela City, was still confined in a hospital yesterday due to a gunshot wound in the right hand.

Senior Police Officer 1 Armando Delima said Chua had just withdrawn P50,000 cash from a bank in Paso de Blas when she was robbed by two men riding tandem on a black motorcycle at about 2 p.m.

Delima said the gunmen followed Chua’s Nissan Patrol from Paso de Blas and upon reaching Victoria Village in Barangay Canumay, one of the robbers fired at the left side of Chua’s car and forced her to stop.

Threatening to shoot her, the robbers ordered Chua to open her car door. Chua resisted when the robbers grabbed her bag, prompting one of them to shoot her.

The suspects fled with the money while Chua was brought to the hospital for treatment.

Police recovered near the victim’s vehicle two shells for a .45 caliber pistol.

On April 2, two motorcycle-riding robbers shot dead company driver Reynaldo Almario, 52, in Barangay Maysan.

Almario, with Jessica Santillan, 42, had just withdrawn P500,000 also from a bank in Paso de Blas when their Mitsubishi Montero was waylaid along Maysan Road at around 1:30 p.m.

The robbers, armed with a .45 caliber pistol, shot the left front tire of the victims’ vehicle, forcing them to stop. The robbers took Santillan’s bag containing the money, but dropped around P200,000 as they fled.

Valenzuela police chief Senior Superintendent Eric Reyes said witnesses were able to identify one of Almario’s alleged killers as Ronan Gabriel of Bulacan. Gabriel remains at large.