Lax security in small firms make them robbery targets

Bigtime robbers prefer to pounce at smaller business establishments, financial institutions and lending company nowadays than risk being caught or identified easily if they try to pull a heist on larger establishments, says Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch chief Supt. Pablo Labra.

Labra said that robbers prefer robbing lending companies recently because of "loose security measures".

He pointed out that banks and other larger business establishments these days have already heeded police advisories pertaining to their security set-up.

Some banks in the city have reportedly already hired more security guards and some even installed security cameras and burglar alarms after a series of bank robberies hit Cebu in 2005 wherein EastWest Bank was robbed twice by the same robbery group.

With these precautionary measures, robbers are said to take second thoughts before carrying out their plans for fear of getting caught or killed.

"Siguro na-realize na nila nga kon padayon silang magdumili sa pagbutang og mga surveillance cameras ug additional security guards, mas dali gyud silang tulison parehas sa nahitabo sa EastWest Bank niadto," Labra said.

Based on last year's police records, lending companies became the favorite targets by robbers, usually motorcycle-riding men, who successfully eluded arrest and whose identities were not known for sometime.

Police have found these establishments very lax in security aspects - either they have no guards at all, no security cameras, no burglar alarms and other factors that made them easy targets.

In the first eight days of this year alone, two robbery incidents hit a lending firm and a cooperative. Yusay Credit and Finance Corporation in Gorordo Avenue became the first victim of robbers.

The suspects who managed to flee with less than P50,000 were both identified by the employees. One of them was caught few hours later in Danao City.

The suspect was identified as Ronillo Nuñez who denied the accusation,while the other suspect was Doroteo Imperial who is still at large. The two are in the police records after they robbed some establishments in Metro Cebu some years back. They were either on bail or never been caught.

While the second incident involves the Natco People's Cooperative in Talamban where two armed robbers hauled more than P50,000 and two cellular phones of employees.

Police have shown pictures of known suspected robbers to the witnesses. They pointed at the photographs of Joel Sumabong and Efren Beladas.

Sumabong became controversial after he reportedly led the P9.4-million LandBank-Bogo branch robbery in 2005 and dropped the name of the mayor of said town, Celestino "Tining" Martinez III, as their mastermind. The mayor vehemently denied the accusations of Sumabong.

Because of the trend, Labra would be asking owners and proprietors of these small business establishments to gather for a meeting so they could be given advices on the appropriate measures to adopt with regards to security of their businesses.

In an earlier interview, new acting city police director, Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, said that police chiefs will be deploying more beat patrols in their jurisdictions and that more patrols will be conducted by the Mobile Patrol Groups to be assisted by other police units. - Edwin Ian Melecio/MEEV