Butuan City cathedral ransacked

BUTUAN CITY — Barely two days after city folk celebrated the Kahimunan Festival in honor of their patron saint, the Sto. Niño, four men broke into the cathedral here yesterday, tied up two priests and a security guard and carted away P20,000 in cash and other valuables.

Ronnie Pillas, security guard of the Sto. Niño Cathedral in Barangay Libertad, told police that two men approached him at about 4:30 a.m. and pleaded that they be allowed to enter the church because one of them was supposedly celebrating his birthday.

Pillas said he initially hesitated but eventually acceded to their plea. But once inside, two other men appeared and all four tied him up and proceeded to the quarters of Fr. Stephen Bongcano who was then deep in prayer.

"Hoy, ayaw pag-ampo, ampo diha bwisit ka (Don’t pray there)," they told Bongcano. They then tied him up and cut all telephone lines.

Msgr. Roberto Pepito, the parish priest, arrived from his jogging, and he, too, was tied up and locked inside a comfort room.

The four men fled with the handgun of Pillas, the cellphones of the two priests, jewelry and the church’s collections amounting to some P20,000.

A pedicab driver said the four men he brought to Guingona Subdivision here at about 5 a.m. could be the robbers.

Policemen found a caliber .45 replica, a black ski mask, hand towels and a number of coins along the robbers’ escape route.

Police later claimed that they have identified the four robbers, led by one Ramil Manabat, and were hunting them down.

The cathedral is located just in front of Camp Rafael Rodriguez, the headquarters of the regional police command, and a few kilometers away from a military camp.

Police have lately been the subject of criticisms due to the rising tide of robberies and other criminal incidents in the city.