PNP: Jaro bank robbery organized, well-planned
At the onset, police investigators deemed that Friday’s robbery at Barotac Viejo Rural Bank – Jaro branch was no work of a neophyte.
In fact, it could have been an organized and well-planned operation by a group which has connections with other robbery suspects operating in the city and province of Iloilo, said Jaro Police Station commander Chief Insp. Orly Gabinete.
Prior to the robbery, reports pointed out that non-residents of Brgy. MV Hechanova or its neighboring villages were seen in the area.
These men, it was believed, were conducting surveillance operations on the bank’s security measures and their usual practices.
It was probably during these stakes out that they knew about the “loose security measures” the bank adopted.
Chief Insp. Hilarion Roga of PNP Regional Crime Laboratory’s SOCO team noted the lack, or the absence, of security guard services of the particular branch of Barotac Viejo Rural Bank Branch.
Further, there were also no closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, which might help in identifying the suspects and knowing the events during the robbery.
“It could have been a big help in our investigation if they had a CCTV camera,” Gabinete said noting that way before the robbery transpired, he already advised the management over its “weak” security measures.
“I already told the bank manager to employ blue guards and to install CCTV cameras,” he added.
But obviously, his advises fell on deaf ears, as evident by the hold-up incident.
To make matters worse, the alarm system – the main security measure employed by the bank – did not work for the establishment’s benefit.
The robbery
Just like the previous days of its operations, the bank opened at around 9:00 in the morning of June 18.
And again, like the normal days, only cashier Cecile Tugbang and loan officer Hereberto Agreda were the employees during the opening hour.
The suspects allegedly posed as bank depositors.
Immediately after the first client finished the bank transaction, the two armed men entered the bank and declared a hold-up.
Agreda said that he heard someone saying “Gwa!” (Go out!).
At first, he claimed that he was not sure that he was the one ordered to go out.
At gunpoint, the victims were hogtied.
Their mouths were also sealed with a masking tape.
The suspects then told Agreda to open the vault.
Quickly, the suspects swept the vault with some P1.5 million.
Carrying their loots placed on backpack, the suspects left the bank premises on board a motorcycle and sped off towards Leganes town, Iloilo.
After the incident happened, Agreda claimed that he could identify the suspects through their face.
Initial arrests
After the robbery, massive manhunt operations were launched to identify and arrest the suspects.
In a beach resort in Leganes town, police “invited for questioning” Ryan Valenzuela and Hernando Padasay, both security guards of a bus company.
Taken from their control was a black motorcycle that seemed to match with the getaway vehicle used by the suspects.
But both vehemently denied their participation in the incident.
Padasay claimed that he was about to take a bath before going to work when policemen arrived.
He said that it caught him by surprised.
They were brought to Jaro Police Station for investigation.
Agreda was also invited to pinpoint if the two were the ones who robbed the bank but he failed to identify any of the two.
Later, Padasay and Valenzuela were released from custody.
CCTV
Following the incident, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) pushed that placement of CCTV cameras should be made as a requisite in securing business permits.
ICPO operations section chief Chief Insp. Uldarico Garbanzos said that CCTV would help curb criminalities in the metro.
CCTV cameras, he noted, are useful for establishments which are into money businesses, such as banks, lending companies, pawnshops and moneychangers.
