2 rob bank of P200,000

Two armed men robbed the Rural Bank of Bacong, located in barangay Pakigne, Minglanilla, and ran off with at least P200,000 from the cashier’s drawer at past 1:00 p.m. yesterday.

The robbers, armed with .45 caliber firearms, did not cover their faces and finished the robbery in just about five minutes then escaped after dragging off four employees and two air-conditioner technicians into the vault, and cutting off the telephone lines.

The bank is owned by Jaime Yoldi, of Dumaguete City, and is about two kilometers from the town proper and the police station. It is located at the ground floor of its own building, the second floor of which is rented by a construction company owned by town councilor Jimmy Caumeran.

The bank has been operating for nine years in Tabunok, Talisay City before it transferred to Minglanilla for the past two years.

The bank employees at the time of the robbery were bank manager Romeo Vernil, who was with his six-year-old child, cashier and teller Antonieta Sismar, bookkeeper Maria Paz Riza Absen, and private security guard Jefferson Alipio.

There were two air-con technicians hired to do repairs at the time: Jestoni Aniban and Angelito Ramirez, of Temp Star and Cooling in Cebu City. Their companion, Jose Gating, was left sleeping in their car parked outside the bank.

SPO3 Romy Elacion of the Minglanilla Police Station said he got the call from councilor Caumeran, alerting of a robbery that was taking place. Chief Insp. Joseph Mangaron, the town’s police chief, then led his men and reached the bank in about five minutes but the robbers were already gone.

Investigators said that about half an hour before the robbery, one of the robbers entered the bank posing as a client and inquiring on how to open an account. He left and returned later with a companion who just stayed outside.

The man approached cashier Sismar, then his companion, immediately entered the bank and the two men quickly aimed their guns at Vernil. They declared a robbery and ordered the employees to lie prone on the floor while they scooped up all the money from Sismar’s drawer.

The robbers then ordered the vault opened but, finding no money, they hauled off the employees, the guard, and the technicians inside the vault. The robbers then left them there before fleeing.

The vault was however left unlocked. Shortly after sensing that the robbers already left the bank, the employees quickly got out of the vault, and one of them went upstairs to call the police about the robbery.

Vernil, however, refused to talk and comment on anything to the media but the police gathered that one robber was described as about 5’3" tall, fair and with blond hair, while the other robber was 5’7" tall, and medium-built.

Bank messenger Alex Sanchez said Vernil sent him for an errand so he was not around when the robbers struck. He told reporters that, a week ago, there had been suspicious people coming to the bank either posing as a client inquiring to open an account or paying water bills "mistakenly."

The bank management just ignored these people believing then that they were real customers, said Sanchez.

Provincial Police director, Sr. Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, went to the crime scene and surmised that the robbers were not from Minglanilla because "they did not cover their face."

He also observed the bank’s security lapses, such as the lack of an alarm system, security camera, and a security guard.

Valmoria said the bank only has a private or company guard who carried no service firearm and left his shotgun at a sofa inside the bank at the time of the robbery.

Valmoria said investigation is still being conducted and this would cover also the employees and the hired technicians. He however said that initial findings showed it was not an inside job although this possibility is not being ruled out.

Provincial Investigation Branch head, Supt. Juanito Enguerra, said there might be more companions of the robbers, as he noticed also the unsecured exit door at the back of the bank that led into an open space where the motorcycle of the robbers also passed.

Enguerra said the robbery was the first to happen in Minglanilla. He said that based on the description given, one of the robbers resembled to Doroteo Imperial, one of the suspected robbers of East West Bank, Yusay Credit Corporation, Asian Spirit ticketing office, and Anchor Savings Bank in Cebu City.

Valmoria said the police would look into this matter. — Norvie S. Misa/RAE