Another remittance center robbed in Cebu
CEBU CITY, Philippines—A day after the robbery of a remittance center here, robbers struck again on Wednesday afternoon and victimized another pawnshop and remittance center in Naga City, 22 km south of this city.
But only P3,000 was taken by the robbers from the M. Lhuillier pawnshop and remittance center in Barangay (village) Inayagan, Naga City, according to records at the Naga police.
PO3 Remberto Empeynado of Naga City Police Station said in his report that two of the pawnshop’s workers—cashier and teller Liezyl Tapdasan and visiting branch manager Merlina Selma—were inside the teller’s booth when the robbery took place.
Barangay Captain Narciso Tablate of Inayagan said the two robbers were seen in the footage of the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera installed by the barangay along the road, some 10 meters from the M. Lhuillier pawnshop and remittance center.
Tablate said that based on the CCTV footage, the two robbers who were wearing ball caps, disembarked from a passenger multicab before entering the M. Lhuillier branch at 2:08 p.m.
A man clad in black T-shirt and cargo shorts went inside the remittance center first. Another man in white t-shirt followed him inside and pointed a gun at Tapdasan.
Tablate, who talked with Tapdasan and Selma, said the robber’s gun muzzle could hardly penetrate the teller’s booth because it had grills.
While one of the robbers was pointing a gun at Tapdasan, Selma was able to hide, Tablate said.
The teller might have panicked so she gave money to the robber, he said. After a minute, the robbers ran outside of the remittance center, he added.
The footage of the CCTV camera showed the two robbers running toward the interior part of the barangay (village).
Tablate said the pawnshop had been operating in the barangay for eight months. He said it did not hire a security guard, banking on the relatively peaceful environment in the village.
