Laguna provincial police director Superintendent Leonilo de la Cruz, owner of the Stinger Security Agency along Maria Clara Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Caloocan City, and his escort P03 Benjamin Palestinos engaged the suspects, who were armed with M-16 assault rifles and caliber .45 pistols, in a shootout, police said. The suspects, however, made good their escape on board two Mercedes Benz vans.
De la Cruz told probers he and Palestinos were about to leave the office at around 4:45 a.m. when the robbery occurred.
City police chief Superintendent Benjardi Mantele, who rushed to the scene, said the suspects, barged into the establishment and quickly disarmed its three security guards, Christian Talens, Eduardo Lacuna and Jeremias Cortez.
The robbers, desribed by witnesses to be in their mid-30s and of muscular built, announced the heist as they ordered the employees to lie with their faces down on the floor.
Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, Station Investigation and Intelligence Division (SIID) chief, said payroll officer Elizabeth Anicete, together with some employees, had reported to the office early in the morning to pay the guards’ salaries.
Borromeo said four of the robbers took turns in mauling Lacuna and Cortez as their cohorts took the firm’s payroll money from the top of Anicete’s table and started divesting the employees of their cash and jewelry.
Dela Cruz said the heist was over in less than 20 minutes. He told investigators that the robbers shot it out with them when they tried to resist the heist.
Borromeo said the robbers boarded two white MB vans believed to be stolen, one of which sported license plates NCR 641, and fled along 9th Avenue towards the north.
Mantele ordered Borromeo to dig deeper into the case to determine if there was conspiracy between the robbers and security agency employees. – Jerry Botial/Pete Laude