Robbery gang hits drugstore

Five armed men staged a daring daylight robbery at a Mercury drugstore branch in Mandaluyong City, carting away an undetermined amount of cash.

Police said the robbery took place at the Mercury branch along Kalentong Avenue, Mandaluyong at around 8:55 a.m.

Five robbers, three on board a single motorcycle and the remaining two getting there on foot, calmly walked to the front of the store.

It was learned that two of the suspects walked up to the two security guards of the store, pointing their guns and disarming them. One rushed inside the store going directly to the office of branch manager Cora Gulapa Ching, while the two acted as lookouts outside.

At gunpoint, one of the robbers forced Ching to open the store’s cash vault containing earnings for the last few days and promptly emptied it of its content.

Securing their loot, the five were about to speed off when two policemen, identified as Senior Police Officer 3 Rodolfo Daniega and Police Officer 1 Ferdinand Hernandez, both on their way home, responded to the commotion at the drug store.

Hernandez, investigators said, was able to shoot one of the three robbers as they were about to escape on board a motorcycle. The bullet was able to hit its mark, making one of the robbers fall from the motorbike.

However, one of the fallen robber’s cohorts suddenly pulled out bills from the sack containing their loot and threw them along roadside, resulting to a scramble for money by bystanders who disregarded their safety, enabling him to pull his fallen comrade back to the motorcycle.

The mad scramble for the money prevented policemen from chasing the scampering robbers.

Mandaluyong policemen are now making rounds at all the city’s hospitals in a bid to find out if the wounded robber went there for treatment.

The police are also coordinating with other police stations in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces for any gunshot victim going to hospitals in their area.