P1.2-million cash recovered; 2 guards dead

Gunshots rang out as members of an Ozamiz City robbery gang held up a bank teller who was delivering P1.2 million to a money changer outlet in the basement of Robinsons Place, Cebu City past 9 a.m. yesterday.

Two guards of the ChinaBank Savings armored van were shot dead.

Three gang members were killed in a shoot-out with policemen, who chased the robbers as they sped off in motorbikes but didn’t make it farther than a few blocks.

A fourth robber, Junjun Cabando, was wounded in the buttocks, and is the subject of a manhunt after he was last seen leaving his rented house in Mandaue City in a taxi.

The bank’s cash was recovered intact near the body of an unidentified robber gunned down on Ranudo Street.  The brown bag’s contents of 12 bundles of P1,000 bills were counted out later in the police headquarters.

The wounded bank teller, 22-year-old Lewin Surig, was shot in the leg.  Also wounded were two policemen of the Mobile Patrol Group, who engaged the robbers.

Their police vehicle happened to pass by the mall when the gunfire was heard.

The robbers were armed with handguns.  How they entered the basement commercial area without being noticed was not clear.

“That’s the next thing we’ll look into,” said Senior Supt. Melvin Buenafe, Cebu City police director.

“This is a warning to all robbers that policemen in Cebu City are always alert and ready,” he added after commending his men for a speedy response.

He said the police knew last week about the arrival of an Ozamiz robbery group after some members were spotted roaming in Cebu City, but didn’t know their exact target. An alert was sent out to local banks and financial establishments, said  Buenafe.

The shoot-out sent mall customers scampering and sales clerks ducking under their carts, as the robbery took place just after the mall opened at 9 a.m. on a busy Monday.

The basement is also the location of Robinsons Supermarket and a food court.  The mall is situated across the road from Fuente Osmeña, a site of heavy vehicular traffic.

Two of the slain robbers were identified as natives of Ozamiz City, Misamis Oriental.

Antonio Adelan, who was killed along Ranudo Street, was identified through his driver’s license. Another suspect, Mario Dapitan, later died at the hospital. He had a cash transfer receipt showing that he sent money to his wife in Ozamiz City.

The third robber killed along Ranudo Street remains unnamed for lack of identification papers.

Two getaway motorcycles were recovered along Ranudo Street and Alcohol Street.

Police are looking for a fourth suspect, Junjun Cabando, who was seen getting off a taxi in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City, where he has a rented house.  The man was wounded in the buttocks. Police recovered bloodied clothes and a camera at the house.

Cabando and his live-in partner were later seen leaving on board another taxi, possibly with two other women.

Cabando was identified by police as one of two robbers who waited and shot the bank teller and security guard/escort in the food court area while two others served as lookouts outside the store.

The robbers killed two security guards of the Puritan agency, Leofer Etac, 32, and the guard who was escorting the bank teller, Lito Odac, who died later in the hospital.

Two policemen of the Mobile Patrol Group who were the first to engage the robbers were injured in the gunfight.

PO1 Elrich Jourden “Jay” Catacutan was shot in the shoulder  while  PO1 Roy Ceniza was hit in the left thigh. /Chito Aragon and Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondents