Vendors and motorists rushed to the corner of Shaw Boulevard and San Miguel Avenue in Barangay San Antonio and fought for possession over the peso bills. The robbers managed to elude pursuing policemen as a result of the bedlam.
However, the robbers were intercepted minutes later by elements of the Mandaluyong City police, which immediately set up a checkpoint after receiving a flash alarm of the robbery.
Suspects, Josie Cafarino, 28, and Ponciano Castor, 38, were flagged down by elements of the Police Community Precinct 4 (PCP-4) while on board a motorcycle.
Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, Mandaluyong City police chief, said Cafarino yielded a 9mm Browning pistol.
The money they threw away was from the payroll being delivered by Elmer Tejolan, 29 a driver-employee of the Reliance Work Force and Gen. Services.
When Tejolan‘s lithium Toyota Revo (XGH 821) slowed down along Shaw at about 12:40 p.m., the two suspects, armed with handguns, tried to pry open the locked doors of his vehicle, but failed.
They then opened fire at Tejolan, but missed.
With the windows of the vehicle shattered, the suspects grabbed the P227,000 from Tejolan.
However, the gunfire attracted the attention of SPO4 Cecille Santos, who was in the area on board his motorcycle.
Santos traded shots with the fleeing robbers. A certain Emmanuel Patanao, 16, was hit by a stray bullet in the leg. He is now being treated at the Rizal Medical Center.
Elements of the Mandaluyong City and Pasig City police immediately conducted a dragnet operation to get the suspects.
Just like in the movies, Cafarino and Patanao threw the cash in the air when they thought that responding policemen were closing in on them.
"Nagkagulo sa lugar. Nagtakbuhan ang mga vendors sa kalye, nagbabaan ang mga sakay ng taxi at pampasaherong dyip para lang makipag-agawan sa pera," said one policeman.
Velasquez and Senior Superintendent Romeo Abaring, Pasig City police OIC, said their men recovered less than P1,000 of the payroll money. — Non Alquitran