2 security agencies face fines for mall heist

MANILA, Philippines - Two of four security agencies hired to provide guards for SM Megamall may be fined up to P20,000 each for failing to submit incident reports on time, a Philippine National Police (PNP) official said yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Tomas Rentoy III, who heads the PNP’s Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (SOSIA), said Link and Star Force have yet to submit their incident report on the robbery at two jewelry stores in the mall Saturday.

“We will be imposing a fine on security agencies. We are still determining the amount of the fine but it might range from P10,000 to P20,000,” he said.

SOSIA is a national support unit of the PNP supervising and regulating security agencies nationwide.

Rentoy vowed to wrap up the investigation by today.

PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima said they are considering placing precincts near malls and other strategic places to enable police officers to quickly react to emergencies similar to the mall heist.

“We are also checking the possibility of synchronizing the communication equipment of security guards and our territorial units for close coordination,” he added.

Better late…

Rentoy said representatives and security guards of the Lambdan and Blue Dragon personally reported to his office and submitted their report on the heist.

“They submitted their report late. Based on our SOPs (standard operating procedures), if there is a major incident such as this one, they should submit a report 24 hours after the incident,” Rentoy said.

The SOSIA noted that the guards assigned to the mall could be suspended for a month and undergo a 15-day retraining if they are found to have committed “willful” lapses that led to the robbery of two jewelry stores.

According to witnesses, one suspect used a wrench to destroy the display cases as the other suspects fired shots into the air to spread panic among shoppers.

Rentoy said they are also looking into the guards’ failure to detect the firearms the robbers smuggled into the mall and to immediately alert police about the robbery.

He noted that security guards should be equipped with metal detectors to ensure that no deadly weapon is brought into the premises they are guarding.

Rentoy, however, clarified that the robbery at Megamall was the first negative incident against the security agencies.

He added that the agencies could be in the process of applying for a gun ban exemption since their guards were not carrying firearms at the time of the robbery.