Bank collector robbed but only P2T lost

Three men robbed a bank collector yesterday morning but only escaped with bank checks and P2,000.

Sherwin Cabarubias, an employee of the Able Services Agency who has been detailed at the Equitable-PCI bank as a collector for seven years now, had just left Du Ek Sam Inc. to pick up the company's collection yesterday morning when he was blocked by three suspects.

He had just gotten on his service vehicle, a yellow Kawasaki Aura motorcycle with plate number GM-3223, when the three men whom he described to be 5'9" tall and decent-looking, approached him.

They then pulled out .45 cal. pistols and declared a robbery and one of them immediately grabbed his knapsack which contained the checks he collected from Du Ek Sam Inc. and three other clients and his wallet that contained P2,000 in personal money.

The robbers made him get off the motorcycle and all three of them got on it and drove toward Legaspi Street. When Cabarubias started to chase the motorcycle, one of them fired two shots and he abandoned the pursuit and just shouted for help.

The robbers left the motorcycle at Legaspi Street, a few meters away from Manalili Street and two of them got on a taxi while the other ran towards Manalili Street.

Police are now checking a report from a pedestrian who complained to a beat patrol policeman assigned in barangay Basak-San Nicolas that he was almost hit by a taxi with a plate number GVU-110 while he was trying to cross the street.

Police suspect this was the said taxi was boarded by two of the robbers.

Recovered with the motorcycle was a black Levi's shirt believed to belong to one of the robbers.

Cabarubias, when interviewed by reporters minutes immediately after the incident, said that P124,000 cash was taken during the robbery, but during questioning at the office of the Theft and Robbery Section he changed his statement and said the robbers only took checks and his P 2,000.

TRS chief Sr. Insp. Alexis Relado said that the bank's branch manager Desiree Pasage also confirmed that their collectors were not allowed to collect cash from their clients.

Relado said that they have coordinated with the NBI-7 to conduct a lie detector test on the victim to see if he has something to do with the robbery. Cabarubias has agreed to take the test.

Yesterday's robbery was the sixth in two months after the assumption of acting city police director Patrocinio Comendador.

The first robbery this year happened in January 1 when two robbers ran off with P50,000 from Yusay Credit and Finance Corp. along Gorordo Avenue.

Less than 24 hours later three men who pretended to apply for a loan at Cebu People's Multi-Purpose Cooperative in barangay Talamban robbed it and escaped with P50,000.

Last January 29, five men wearing police uniforms robbed Dranix Distributors Inc. and ran off with almost P1 million. The robbers also killed one of the security guards of the company.

Last February 3, the Asian Spirit ticketing office along Archbishop Reyes Avenue lost P120,000 to robbers who pretended to buy tickets. After they announced the hold-up they identified themselves as vigilantes.

The last robbery happened in February 6 wherein Anchorbank, just two blocks away from the Asian Spirit ticketing office, lost P370,000 to two robbers who also claimed they were vigilantes. - Flor Z. Perolina /BRP