P14 M in gold bars carted away in Lepanto heist

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Five ski mask-wearing gunmen barged into the compound of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., the country’s biggest mining firm, in Mankayan town last Saturday afternoon, killing four guards and an engineer and carting away about P14 million in gold bars, authorities said.

The guards and the engineer were transporting the 21.8 kilos of gold in a van from a refinery to a vault in another building in the vast mining area at dusk Saturday when the robbers approached the vehicle and opened fire with assault rifles, Lepanto vice president for administration Florendo Fajilan said.

The heist came on the eve of the 67th anniversary of the founding of Lepanto, a former copper-mining company started by an American geologist. It shifted to gold mining in 1997.

"They sprayed them with gunfire then there was a brief silence. Then there were more bursts of gunfire as they made sure everyone was dead," Fajilan said.

"Some of our men were already wounded and helpless when they were killed," he said.

The gunmen, brandishing M-16 and Garand rifles, also opened fire on another company van and ordered the guards and employees inside to lie face down but did not hurt them, Fajilan said.

The attackers then fled with the gold into the nearby woods, he said.

Fajilan identified the slain company engineer as Ricardo Tamayo Jr., and the four guards as Abraham Damogo, Peter Chopchopen, Francisco Mallari and Romeo Pongot.

Chief Superintendent Victor Luga, Cordillera police director, has hinted about an "inside job" in the heist.

But Lt. Col. Preme Monta, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Northern Luzon Command, said the New People’s Army was behind the robbery.

"They are now desperate to raise funds for a major operation they are planning," he said in a phone interview.

Fajilan said the robbers took advantage of the company’s anniversary celebration in pulling off the crime,

Members of the Mankayan police, the 1604th Police Mobile Group and the Army’s 84th Infantry Battalion are pursuing the robbers.

Fajilan said the company is leaving the investigation to the law enforcers. — With Mike Frialde