Ozamiz jail escapees tagged in 7-11 rob-slay

 Manila, Philippines - Investigators confirmed yesterday that the men who robbed a 7-11 convenience store along F.B. Harrison street in Manila and killed an American business executive on Sept. 2 are inmates who escaped from the Ozamis, Misamis Occidental city jail.

Chief Inspector Ferjen Torred, head of the Parañaque police’s intelligence unit, came out with the names and pictures of the suspects behind a series of LBC and 7-11 robberies that dates back to August and covers Cavite, Parañaque and Manila.

Torred identified the suspects as Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr. alias “Kulot,” Harry Alfeche Sampiloc, Mario Elumbaga and Reymar Paran.

Panogalinga, who was meted six years for illegal possession of firearms, was the man who poked his gun at the cashier and announced the heist. Sampiloc and Elumbaga – serving sentences for drug pushing and theft, respectively – are the two other men seen in the footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera.

Paran, who was released last June prior to the Ozamis jailbreak after serving his sentence for car theft and frustrated homicide, served as a lookout for the group.

Chief Inspector Enrique Sy told The STAR that the suspects were among the 12 inmates who bolted the Ozamis City Jail on July 28. The late interior secretary Jesse Robredo ordered the relief and demotion of acting Ozamis jail warden, Senior Jail Officer 4 Edgar Tapayan, Jail Officer 3 Roy Tuarez and JO1 Jason dela Cerna after the incident.

Sy said after the suspects escaped, the four men met in Manila and formed their group, first robbing the LBC Remit Express branch in Bacoor, Cavite at noon on Aug. 19. An hour later, they struck at the LBC branch in Quirino, Tambo, Parañaque.

On Aug. 20, as the country observed Eid’l Fitr, the group robbed the 7-11 Leveriza branch, where they were seen on CCTV footage.

On Aug. 26, the suspects robbed the LBC branch in Sucat, Parañaque. On Sept. 2, the group hit the 7-11 F.B. Harrison branch and killed Robert Armstrong, an executive of an English language testing center.

Torred said a concerned citizen called him and identified the robbers. He said a check with the BJMP confirmed that the suspects were the same persons who broke out of the Ozamis City Jail last July.

Sy said the suspects stage robberies only on Sundays and official holidays, and have a particular pattern they follow to the hilt. He said the Sept. 2 heist was the only time the suspects killed someone.

A source called The STAR Monday night and said that the suspects were hiding in Quezon City, perhaps planning to break up and reconnect somewhere else to continue their operation.