IPPO sees rise in heists during lean months
The Iloilo Police Provincial Office is anticipating an increase in robbery incidents in the province with the onset of the lean months in Western Visayas.
IPPO Director Senior Supt. Renato Gumban said, however, they are closely monitoring the robbery groups to neutralize or pre-emption their plans.
During the lean or “poor” months from June to September, the police observe a surge in crimes as it is an off-harvest period and many people supposedly don’t have sources of income thus, they resort to robbing people.
Gumban has confirmed that the robbers who victimized a Ceres Liner bus last Tuesday in Anilao town are members of an organized group.
But the police has yet to confirm if the suspects belong to same group as the robbers who victimized an elderly couple Wednesday afternoon at Brgy. Batiti, Concepcion town.
Wenceslao Posadas, 71, and his wife Hermie, 68, were on their way home to Brgy. Salcedo, Sara, Iloilo when they were waylaid by three unidentified persons. The couple were on board a rented motorcycle driven by Nestor Muyco.
Muyco continued driving when the three motorcycle-riding robbers instructed them to stop. However, Muyco and his passengers fell after the motorcycle skidded while speeding through a rough road.
The robbers then went to them and took Hermie’s bag containing more than P100,000.
Chief Insp. Rene Lauron, chief of Concepcion Police Station, said the assailants could have been monitoring the victims’ whereabouts.
The robbers probably knew what time the couple would go home and what route they would take after doing business at Concepcion town, he said.
“We theorize that someone else did the surveillance, not the actual robbers,” Lauron said, adding that the robbers were probably not local residents because they boldly showed their faces to the victims.
