2 guards in Laguna bank rob arrested

CABUYAO, Laguna — Two security guards tagged in the Aug. 22 heist at the Calamba City branch of East-West Bank were arrested in separate police operations in Pasay City and Calamba Saturday afternoon.

Superintendent Flaviano Baltazar, provincial chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, identified the two suspects as Randel Monarez, officer-in-charge of Blue Eagle Security Inc., who was tagged as the mastermind, and Peter Tagologon, of Thunderbird Security Services.

Tagologon was first arrested at the Manila Domestic Airport as he was about to leave for Zamboanga City. He yielded P199,000, believed part of the loot.

During interrogation, Tagologon admitted taking part in the bank robbery and pinpointed Monarez as the alleged mastermind.

Police are still hunting down another suspect, security guard Marvin Larola (not Pura as earlier reported).

Last Friday, the Sorsogon police recovered P4.2 million taken from the East-West Bank branch from Larola’s half-brother Reynante Pura who, acting on the former’s instructions, buried the money in his backyard. — Ed Amoroso