Bank cashier loses P2.3M to holduppers

BALANGA CITY, Bataan — Five well-dressed armed men believed to be members of a notorious robbery-holdup gang operating in Central Luzon robbed a cashier of a development bank of P 2,370,000 cash in broad daylight in the heavily-populated Barangay Centro Uno, Orani town, this province, the other day.

Senior Superintendent Hernando Zafra, Bataan police director, said the suspects aboard a tinted car blocked the Bataan Development Bank (BDB) service car while enroute to deliver the money collected from the BDB branch in Dinalupihan town to the bank’s main office in Balanga City.

Police report said Rolando dela Pena, 26, credit investigator and loan appraiser, and Milagros Ongkingko, cashier of BDB, were on board a Toyota Innova when five-armed men brandishing caliber .45 automatic pistols flagged them and were ordered to alight at about 2:30 p.m.

The suspects took two duffel bags containing the money in different denominations in the back seat and fled to northern Bataan.

The two bank employees immediately reported the incident to the Orani police station, prompting the newly designated police chief, Inspector Antonio Apan, to form two teams to track down the suspects.

Police are still looking for any clues of the possible involvement of a bank employee in this case. Three years ago, the Acetylene gang from Baguio City carted away some P 5 million cash and assorted jewelries at the BDB main office in Balanga City located about a stone’s throw from the City Hall. — Raffy Viray