Probers note security lapses in Carcar bank robbery

POLICE yesterday said the management of Metrobank’s Carcar City branch committed security lapses in allowing a janitor-messenger to pick up P1.2 million in checks and cash, an amount taken by motorcycle-riding robbers last Friday.

“An armored car should have been used since it already involved a big amount. They should not be sending a mere messenger. That should be looked into,” said Chief Supt. Noel Gillamac, Cebu provincial police chief.

He also noted the lack of a security escort for the janitor, Marvin Dazo Cababan.

No suspects have been identified yet in the robbery.

The janitor was sent to collect the deposit of one of the bank’s clients, Vifco Piggery.

Police investigators yesterday met with Cababan, Vifco security guards and the branch manager Gay Filomino behind closed doors.

Cebu Daily News first withheld the name of the bank after it’s representative Armand B. dela Cruz, head of Metrobank’s Mambaling branch promised to issue a statement once they clear up matters with the police. None was issued. Gillamac identified the bank at yesterday’s briefing.

Six cellular phones belonging to the security guards and Cababan have been sent for examination to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said SPO3 Joramae Tanod-tanod of the PIB.

“If we can prove that there was somebody who tipped the perpetrators, we will surely file a case against them,” Gillamac said.

He was referring to one theory that the heist was an inside job. /Correspondent Christine Emily L. Pantaleon