Early-morning robbers hit rich Manila home

A gang of five men ransacked the home of a wealthy Chinese-Filipino family in Sta. Mesa, Manila, on Thursday morning, holding the household members at gunpoint before taking the victims’ vehicle, cash, jewelry and gadgets.

The Manila Police District on Friday noted that the intruders timed their entry with the opening of the driveway gate. They then blocked the vehicle coming out and ordered those onboard to return to the house.

A similar tactic was used in January when another Tsinoy residence was targeted for robbery in Sampaloc, according to SPO1 Jay Donato of the MPD’s theft and robbery section.

“The descriptions of the men involved in Thursday’s incident matched those of the Sampaloc robbers,” Donato told the Inquirer Friday.

The men in the Sta. Mesa heist forcibly entered the residence of Jimmy and Celia Ng, who both run a hardware store in Binondo. The couple were driving out of their gate around 7:30 a.m. when the robbers approached their vehicle.

Recounting their ordeal to investigators, Celia Ng, 56, said she and her family members were held hostage for just over 20 minutes while the robbers went room to room.

Her son-in-law was treated more harshly: The robbers left him hogtied with a telephone cord.

The gang members took a laptop, a tablet computer, cell phones and cash—even items belonging to the two housemaids—and used the Ngs’ Toyota Innova (ZPY 631) for their getaway.

The couple said the stolen valuables and vehicle were all worth about P2 million.

Donato said a P3-million robbery that happened in January used the same modus operandi and victimized a Chinese businessman in Sampaloc, whose family members were also hogtied using electrical cables. With a report from Jacqueline Arias