Cops nab suspect in robbery of P3.4-M 4Ps funds in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY—Policemen nabbed on Friday one of the suspects in the robbery of the P3.4 million Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) money intended for thousands of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries in the island-town of Rapu-rapu in Albay, the town police chief said Saturday.

Armed with warrant of arrest, police arrested Henry Bibat, 44, resident of barangay (village) Carcaran in Rapu-rapu town around 1:30 p.m. Friday in his residence. He is the number 2 most wanted in Rapu-rapu facing robbery charges at the Regional Trial Court branch 4 under Judge Edgar Armes.

Senior Inspector Arnel Bellen, Rapu-rapu police chief, said in his report that the suspect and his uncle Eddie Bibat were tagged by witnesses as persons of interest in the P3.4 million CCT heist last January this year. Eddie is still at large.

According to police reports, two bonnet-wearing suspects armed with bladed weapons, barged into the boarding house of Bibat in Barangay (village) Villahermosa in Batan Island, Rapu-Rapu town where two employees of the Saint Anthony Development Cooperative (SADC) were preparing the cash envelops intended for 1,350 4Ps beneficiaries of the island-town in January. They were held up, tied and gagged by the suspects who carted away the money.

In a phone interview, Bellen said that the Bibats had been implicated in the case after police investigators looked into the angle of an “inside job” when evidences and testimonies from witnesses and victims revealed that the suspect Eddie, a village councilman, was the owner of the boarding house where the robbery happened. The two suspects went missing and could not be located after the robbery incident, the police chief said.

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