PNCC loses P4 M in New Year robbery

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — Fifteen heavily armed robbers carted away P4 million in cash and assorted firearms from the Philippine National Construction Co. (PNCC) office in Calamba City past midnight yesterday, police said.

Police probers were checking if those behind the 30-minute heist at the PNCC office were also responsible for another robbery in Pasay City at about 10 p.m. Saturday.

The robbers, clad in SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) uniforms and brandishing high-powered firearms, barged into the PNCC office along the South Luzon Expressway in Barangay Silangan, Calamba City at about 12:10 a.m.

They then disarmed and tied up security guards Florencio Abala, Romeo Campos, Antonio Valdez and Rogelio Macero, and ordered cashier Marilyn Vendavil, teller Isabela Agduyang, clerk Flor Valdez, and shift supervisor Raul Saluson to lie face down on the floor.

Police said the robbers used an acetylene torch and hammers to open the vault where they scooped up the cash, and then fled on board a Mitsubishi Pajero and a white car, both without license plates.

Investigation showed that the robbers managed to enter the PNCC office by introducing themselves as SWAT members who were supposedly responding to a shooting incident.

While some of the robbers were disarming and tying up the security guards, the others barged into the PNCC’s collection division and claimed that they were responding to a bomb threat.