Two robbery suspects held

CEBU, Philippines - Police arrested Wednesday evening two men for alleged involvement in a series of robberies in Mandaue City.

Men from the Basak Police station and the Investigative and Detective Management Bureau (IDMB) arrested suspected robbers Arnel Porras, 24, and Ponciano Villamor, 20, at their homes in Purok 7 in barangay Nangka, Consolacion town.

Seized from them was a .38 caliber revolver and one small pack containing alleged shabu.

Basak police station chief P Sr./Insp. Wilson Abot said Porras and Villamor were arrested after a house help at Cortes Subdivision in Mandaue City, who was walking with a friend inside the village last Tuesday evening, was robbed of her cellular phone at gunpoint.

The house help accompanied the police to the two men's homes in Consolacion town and there positively identified them.

Abot said the two men are also responsible for the death of one Grace Caminade who they waylaid last January 30 in Sektor 2 in barangay Pagsabungan, Mandaue City.

He said they shot Caminade, a staff of People's Cooperative in barangay Pasil, Cebu City for refusing to give up her bag.

Caminade's husband witnessed the holdup and was able to identify the robbers.

Abot said the two men preyed on residents who went home to the villages during the wee hours of the morning.

Porras and Villamor, who are now detained at the Basak police station, also face other pending robbery cases in the different parts of Mandaue City. - THE FREEMAN