Robbers hit ‘Bayad Center’

A local payment service center was robbed by two still unidentified gunmen who posed as customers yesterday before noon in Malabon City.

Senior Inspector Jorge Tabayag, city police investigation chief, said the Sta. Clara Bayad Center at the Sancti Josef Commercial Stalls Inc. on M.H. del Pilar street in Barangay Tugatog was robbed at around 11:45 a.m.

PO3 Peter Rios, the officer-on- case, said Jaime Villanueva, 61, owner of the Sta. Clara Bayad Center, told investigators that the suspects ran off with about P600,000 in cash.

According to investigators, the robbers mingled with customers while tellers Conrado San Luis and Rowland Tulabot were busy attending to clients. The two approached the tellers and declared a holdup.

At gunpoint, the tellers were ordered to hand over the cash, already bundled up and ready to be picked up for deposit by company collector Rolando Salvador.

The suspects fled on foot in the direction of a garbage dumpsite in Barangay Catmon. — Jerry Botial