A wanted ex-policeman, tagged as the leader of the Doce Pares robbery gang, was identified yesterday as one of the three men who robbed a businessman and his wife of P161,000 cash they have just withdrawn from a bank branch in Pasig City.
The victims, Robert Galilea, 36, and his wife, Josephine, of Barangay Santolan positively identified ex-PO2 Joel Tapec, alias Vic and David, in the file of rogue gallery of the Pasig City police.
Tapec, formerly assigned at the District Mobile Force (DMF) of the Eastern Police District (EPD), has several standing arrest warrants for his role in the series of robbery cases in Metro Manila years back.
The Galilea couple withdrew the amount from the Metrobank Branch in Barangay Santolan at about 2:30 p.m. Monday.
The couple was on their way home on board their Mitsubishi Pajero (RCE-179), when they decided to pass by the FM trucking also in Barangay Santolan to pay some debt.
All the while, Robert said he noticed a blue Mitsubishi Adventure closely tailing them but he did not suspect anything.
When Robert parked his vehicle at the trucking firm’s office along Pasco street, two motorcycles stopped on both sides and approached them with drawn guns and announced the heist. The couple said the robbers were armed with .45 caliber pistols and Uzi sub-machineguns.
The victims said they also noticed the blue Mitsubishi Adventure parked at the back of their vehicle.
At gunpoint, the suspects grabbed the clutch bag from the couple containing the money. One of the suspects also ordered Robert to hand over his car keys.
Before escaping, the robbers fired their guns in the air apparently to scare off witnesses and their victims.
The Doce Pares gang is composed of policemen, belonging mostly to the batch of Tapec.
Three of their members are presently detained at the Cainta jail facing murder charges for the killing of an 11-month girl during a P90,000 robbery operations two years ago.
EPD director Senior Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz created a team to track down and neutralize Tapec, who is believed to be behind the rash of robbery cases in Metro Manila since he had gone absent without leave (AWOL). – Non Alquitran