Robbers hit Manila, Caloocan families

MANILA, Philippines – Household members were hogtied and their homes ransacked by armed robbers in Manila and Caloocan City.

An estimated P3 million worth of jewelry and gadgets were taken from a family in Sampaloc, Manila after four men barged into their residence early Friday morning.

Senior Police Officer 1Oliver Balingit of the Manila Police District’s Sampaloc station said the intruders bound Clarita Zamora, her son Carlo and daughter-in-law Maribel using electrical cord upon entering their house on Lacson Street.

“The suspects instructed Carlo to open their vault. When he tried to resist, one of the men hit him on the head with a gun,” Balingit told the Inquirer.

The robbers escaped with their loot on motorcycles.

In December last year, a gang of six men who also hogtied members of a Filipino-Chinese family in Paco, Manila, and made off with valuables worth about P700,000.

In Caloocan, a woman lost over P300,000 in cash and other valuables to robbers who broke into her house Thursday afternoon and tied her up together with her father.

The police identified the victims as Rosana Osias, a 39-year-old credit collector, and her father Rodolfo, 63, of Barangay 174, Camarin.

Osias reported the loss of two cell phones, a DVD player, a tablet computer, a Rolex watch and P111,000 in cash. Maricar B. Brizuela and Nathaniel R. Melican