The second in a month: Robbers struck the same construction supply firm

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A construction supply warehouse in Molo of this city was robbed yesterday, the second incident in a span of 35 days, police said. Not only the robbers picked the same target, a number of incidents akin to the first incident occurred.

For one, the robbers staged the robbery at Steel Gold Construction Supply located at Timawa Avenue on broad daylight, and used a taxi as their getaway vehicle. But unlike the first robbery on October 8 when a customer was the victim, this time the perpetrators preyed on the establishment itself.

Chief Inspector Jay Malong, Molo Police chief, said two men went inside Steel Gold at around 11:30 a.m. and at gunpoint, declared a hold-up. They then took off with some P30,000 cash, and boarded on a waiting cab with a driver and another look-out.

Witnesses were able to get the cab’s plate number (FWX115) and initially claimed it was a GDR Taxi. Shortly later, the taxi driven by William Cordova was intercepted at La Paz district. However, it was not a GDR Taxi but a unit of the Solomon Taxi Services.

Still, “Cordova is not off-the-hook. Witnesses might have mistaken it to GDR because both are Avanza units,” Malong said.

They also did not believe Cordova’s alibi that he was waiting for passengers at a mall in Mandurriao district for more than two hours. “He claimed to be there since 9:00 in the morning and had a passenger at 11:32. It’s quite inconsistent considering that the mall opens at 10 a.m.,” Malong said.

As of now, police are looking into Cordova’s involvement in some cases in Iloilo City. “We also have leads on his possible cohorts,” Malong added. (FREEMAN)