Cops check video for supermarket robbers’ images

MANILA, Philippines - Pasig City police investigators have obtained a copy of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showing security guard-turned-robber Hernani Lupera and his three companions entering the Robinsons Supermarket just before staging Saturday’s heist, which left four people dead, an official said yesterday.

City police chief Senior Superintendent Mario Rariza said they are enhancing the video as the faces of Lupera’s three companions could not be clearly seen.

“We could not identify as yet the three other suspects in the failed robbery. We are asking our computer experts to enhance the video footage so we could have of clear picture of their faces,” he said.

According to Rariza, the supermarket management provided them with the CCTV video to help them identify and arrest Lupera’s companions.

He said the video showed Lupera and his accomplices entering the supermarket at around 10:32 p.m. Saturday and the three men escaping some 10 minutes later.

Lupera, 35, wore a helmet and jacket while his companions wore a hood, a cap and carried a backpack, which contained a .38 caliber revolver left behind by the escaping robbers, Rariza said.

The robbers herded the supermarket’s guards and remaining employees into the mezzanine and ordered the cashier at gunpoint to open the vault. However, one of the employees became hysterical and Lupera started shooting people at close range, killing guards Melanie Belga, 35, and Frederick Perez, 34; and merchandiser Nonie Oñas.

Lupera tried to shoot head guard Juanito Bordadora but his gun jammed. Bordadora grabbed a nearby crowbar and beat Lupera to death. Lupera’s companions fled without any loot.

Lupera was a security guard of Robinsons Supermarket in Barangay Rosario but was transferred to its branch in Parañaque City recently.

Rariza said they are still eyeing an inside job angle in the failed robbery.