Crack teams formed to go after suspects in Roxas Boulevard robbery

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila police chief Director Roberto Rosales formed several police teams yesterday to arrest the suspects in the robbery along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Sunday wherein a Chinese couple and their companion were wounded.

Rosales vowed that the suspects in the daylight robbery would be arrested and punished. He said the police teams from the National Capital Region Police Office would not relent until the perpetrators of the robbery are identified and neutralized.

Rosales directed Chief Superintendent Jaime Calungsud, director of the Southern Police District and the commander of the Parañaque City police to visit the victims to apprise them of the ongoing efforts of the police to apprehend the suspects.

Those wounded were spouses, Ruben Chua, 40; his wife, Jocelyn, 40; and their companion, Carmelita Cho, 69. They are now being treated at undisclosed hospitals in Metro Manila.

Initial investigation showed that Mrs. Chua and Cho arrived from Guam early morning of Sunday and were fetched by Ruben and his son, Denzel, 13, from the airport.

While traversing Roxas Boulevard, on board a Nissan Vanette (UFK-596), two groups of motorcycle-riding suspects blocked their path and the suspects shot Chua who refused to open the door of the vehicle.

The suspects divested the victims of their belongings before fleeing toward unknown direction. Despite being wounded, Ruben was able drive the vehicle toward Manila but fainted and accidentally bumped the vehicle to a tree near the Diamond Hotel in Manila.

Responding policemen and hotel security guards rushed the victims to the hospital.

Denzel was not hurt in the incident.

Rosales ordered the Parañaque City Police Office to coordinate with the Manila Police District and exhaust and work on all leads that might help in the immediate arrest of the suspects.

The Metro police director also directed Calungsud to look into the present deployment of the local police and determine why they failed to intercept the suspects. “We would like to find out why the suspects were not engaged by policemen despite the declaration of full alert in the whole of Metro Manila,” Rosales said.

Rosales reiterated his order to police commanders to intensify the inspection of motorcycle riders, including the “No Plate, No Travel” policy.

He noted that when NCRPO started the campaign, there has been a remarkable decrease on crimes involving robbery suspects riding in tandem and it had been months since the last incident invol-ving such modus operandi occured.

Rosales recommended to Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief, DOTC Assistant Secretary Arturo Lomibao, to consider the use of bigger license plate for motorcycles for easy identification.

 In his recommendation, motorcycle license plates would be put in front and at the back of the motorcycle.

The new scheme proposed by Rosales also includes the use of stickers depicting the license plate number of the motorcycle on both sides of the vehicle.

Aside from the additional identification features on the motorcycle, Rosales suggested the mandatory permanent printing, in very visible form, of the license plate corresponding to the motorcycle on the helmet and vest to be used by the riders.       – Non Alquitran