Pastor loses P.6 M to robbers

BINALONAN, Pangasinan — It will be a bleak Christmas for the employees of a religious sect after their pastor, together with his bookkeeper, was held up by three motorcycle-riding men here of P633,200 he had withdrawn from a bank last Thursday afternoon.

The money was intended for the salaries and bonuses of the religious sect’s personnel.

Chief Inspector Napoleon Viray, municipal police chief, told The STAR that the victims, Marvin Diaz, 40, pastor of the Northern Luzon Mission based in Sison town, and his bookkeeper, Harris Narvarte, 26, were cruising the highway in Barangay Sta. Maria Norte when the robbers, wearing barong Tagalog, overtook their Kia Pride.

Two of the three robbers then shot Diaz, who was driving the Kia Pride, in the chest twice, and Narvarte in the right leg.

Probers said Diaz and Navarte first went to a money changer in Binalonan, then proceeded to the Philippine National Bank in Urdaneta City to withdraw the money.

The two then went to a shopping mall and a drugstore before proceeding back to Sison. — Eva Visperas