4 bank rob witnesses seek police protection

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna – Police have taken in their custody four witnesses in the RCBC bank robbery and massacre in Cabuyao, Laguna last May 16 after they expressed fear for their lives, Senior Superintendent Felipe Rojas, Laguna provincial director, said yesterday.

Rojas said the witnesses sought police protection after they received death threats from unknown persons.

Three of the witnesses were placed in the custody of the Laguna police, and the fourth, under the RCBC Task Force, Rojas said.

He said they have requested the Department of Justice to place the four witnesses under the government’s witness protection program, “but until now, we are still waiting for the result.”

One of the witnesses recounted seeing two armed men on board an unlicensed motorcycle roaming around his neighborhood in Barangay Turbina, Calamba City.

“I’m not interested in the P2-million reward if my family will be in danger. I just want to have a peaceful life,” the witness told The STAR.

“Sometimes I’m thinking of not testifying once the court hearing starts because my life is in danger,” he said.

Meanwhile, despite the claim of neighbors of former soldier Ricardo Gomolon that he was not involved in the RCBC robbery, the Philippine National Police is not likely to exclude him from the case.

PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said Gomolon can use the statements of his neighbors in defending himself from the robbery with multiple homicide charges filed against him with the Laguna prosecutor’s office.

“We will consider (the statements of Gomolon’s neighbors); these will form part of the investigation. The defense of Gomolon will also be considered,” he said.

Bartolome, however, denied allegations that police have made shortcuts in their investigation and arrested innocent individuals to satisfy public clamor for the arrest of the perpetrators of the bloody bank heist.

“We don’t resort to shortcuts in solving crimes… evidence, testimonies will be properly considered,” he said. “The police would rather have one guilty person out on the street than have an innocent person put in jail.”

“Our investigators have their own way of determining who will be included in the charges… If ever there are some personalities who vouched for Gomolon, he can use it in his defense,” he added.

More than five friends and neighbors of Gomolon have reportedly claimed to have seen him on the morning of May 16, when the robbery took place.

Police said Gomolon was riding on a bicycle when a police asset saw him with a gun – a caliber .38 revolver – bulging from his waist. Responding lawmen promptly arrested him.

But Gomolon’s friends claimed that the former soldier was nabbed in his home without a warrant of arrest. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe