A man believed to be a cohort of suspected robbery gang leader Junjun Cabando alias Dionisio Cabatingan was arrested yesterday noon in Minglanilla town, southern Cebu.
Police said Roilen Castro was one of the lookouts when Cabando’s group robbed an armored car at the Robinsons Place last Sept. 5, 2011.
Castro denied involvement in the crime. He said Cabando may have implicated him in the robbery because he was the only one among the group who was acquitted in a criminal charge in Mindanao.
PO1 Elrich Catacutan, one of the wounded policemen in an encounter with the robbers, identified Castro as one of the robbers who shot them.
Mirly Laguitao, Cabando’s live-in partner, also tagged Castro in the robbery.
Laguitao was picked up by police last Friday in Ozamiz City.
She admitted treating Cabando until he escaped to Mindanao a few days after the robbery.
A Cebu City court yesterday issued a commitment order for Cabando’s transfer to the Cebu City Jail. Cabando was arrested last Thursday in Sindangan, Zamboanga Del Norte.
His arraignment will be on August 14.
Cabando said he will prove to the court that he only acted as the driver of the get-away vehicle and not the leader of the group.
Cabando said he didn’t know that his pregnant live-in-partner is detained at the Cebu City Police Office.
Cabando said Laguitao did not participate in the roberry.
“She’s a good person,” Cabatingan said.
Laguitao was arrested in Tudela, Misamis Occidental last Friday, a day after Cabando was caught. Laguitao denied he was involved in the robbery and that she was in baragay Subangdaku, Mandaue City during the robbery.
Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City police, said two witnesses saw Laguitao in the crime scene acting as a lookout.
A charge of obstruction of justice will be filed against Laguitao, said police.
Laguitao admitted she treated a wounded Cabando and helped him escape to Mindanao.
“He was as white as paper. I thought he was really going to die,” Laguitao said.
The woman worked as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Cyprus before she met Cabatingan. She was previously charged with frustrated murder in Ozamiz but the case was later dismissed./CORRESPONDENTS CHITO O. ARAGON AND KATREENA BISNAR