2 men rob meat vendor of P100T; 'lookout' nabbed

CEBU, Philippines – A meat vendor lost her P100,000 cash and cellular phones to motorcycle-riding robbers Thursday night in Barangay Poblacion Oriental, Consolacion town.

Police failed to arrest the robbers but they arrested a woman, 40-year-old Gisele Aton, who allegedly served as the suspects' lookout during the robbery.

Victim Jocelyn Semblante, 34, told police that she just alighted from a motorcycle-for-hire which ferried her home from the town's public market at around 9 p.m. when two men on another motorcycle stopped nearby then approached her.

The backrider allegedly pulled out a cal. 45 pistol and pointed it at Semblante while declaring a holdup.

Police Officer 1 Socrates Borinaga of Consolacion Police Station said the victim still asked the robbers to spare her mobile phone which, she said, was just cheap and is very important to her, but the robbers still took it.

In fear, the victim handed over to the robbers her green bag containing P100,000 cash and three mobile phones worth P11,000. The robbers then sped off to an unknown location while the victim reported the incident.

The police conducted a follow-up investigation and learned from a witness that Aton, a neighbor of the victim, allegedly acted suspiciously prior to the robbery.

The suspect was allegedly seen standing near the victim's house while texting and even allegedly chatted with the robbers shortly before the robbery.

"Naa'y nakasulti nga saksi nga nagbarog sa dool sa balay sa biktima si Aton kay nagpuyo ra man pud na siya diha, unya nagsigi og text. Nitimbaya pa man gani sa mga tulisan," said Borinaga.

Borinaga said they believe that the robbers served Aton as their lookout because they would not have known when Semblante would specifically arrive home.

During police interrogation, Aton vehemently denied involvement in the robbery.

Investigation is ongoing to identify the robbers while the police are contemplating on filing robbery charges against Aton. —/NSA (FREEMAN)