Bank rob leader identified

A family driver was identified yesterday by the Parañaque City police as the leader in last Wednesday’s robbery of a Prudential Bank branch on Sucat Road.

Marko Lanada, 22, of Sitio Pulo, Talon, Las Piñas, was identified by a bank security guard of the Prudential Bank from a police rogue gallery. The Parañaque City government put a P100,000 reward yesterday for information leading to the arrest of the bank rob leader.

The police also issued the cartographic sketch of four of the robbers who barged into the bank. The lone female member of the robbery group, which consisted of at least 12 persons, was identified only as "Liza."

Superintendent Roland Estilles, city police chief, said investigators have yet to identify the robbery gang but quoted witnesses as saying that the robbers had thick Visayan accents.

Estilles said the security guard said Lanada was the one who directed the group as it executed the robbery. Lanada was also identified by his employer, Gimeno Buenaventura, a Las Piñas businessman who owned one of the vans involved in the heist.

Quoting a statement from Buenaventura, Estilles said Liza rented his Lite Ace van (TCZ 407) and left with his driver at around 5:30 a.m. last Wednesday.

Buenaventura said he was shocked to learn that his van was used in the robbery.

Estilles said police have cleared Buenaventura of any involvement in the crime.

Las Piñas City police chief, Superintendent Armando Pineda, also confirmed that the second vehicle involved, a Starex van, was stolen.

Pineda said the vehicle was taken from its owner at gunpoint at around 1 a.m. also last Wednesday in front of a fastfood restaurant in Parañaque.

The original license plates of the van was XBC 313. The robbers changed it with plates WGP 264.

Estilles said bank officials have confirmed that a certain amount of money was stolen, but it was estimated to be only less than a million pesos.

A group of at least 12 robbers, armed with high-powered firearms, also engaged two members of the city police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team in a brief gunbattle after the lawmen chanced upon the heist while patrolling the area. – Nikko Dizon