Money transfer outlet robbed despite Mandaluyong ban on motorcycle tandem riding

MANILA, Philippines – Despite Mandaluyong City’s ordinance banning unrelated men from riding together on motorcycles, tandem-riding men were able to rob a money transfer outlet of its P20,000 in earnings in broad daylight.

Police said that one of the two unidentified men took Frewill Finance Inc.’s daily earnings of P19,919 at around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The establishment at Gomega Condominium, P. Martinez St., Barangay (village) Daang Bakal, offers services such as money transfers and bills payment, among others.

SPO1 Albert Fontanilla said that upon entering the establishment, the gun-toting man wearing a bonnet, white helmet and red jacket proceeded to cashier Gloria Maramba’s booth and handed over to her a backpack, where he ordered the victim to put the money in.

Frightened for her life, Maramba scampered for the establishment’s back door where she shouted to her manager that a robber was inside their shop.

Fontanilla said that the robber pointed a gun at Zuraika Tapayan, the shop’s manager who went out of the restroom to verify Maramba’s claim and saw the robber emptying the cashier’s drawer of its contents. He added that the robber instructed her not to shout for help.

After taking the establishment’s cash, the robber fled toward Shaw Boulevard aboard a motorcycle, which was driven by a man wearing a black helmet and jacket.

Fontanilla said that the robbers pulled off their crime easily because the outlet didn’t employ security guards. He surmised that the two might have come from the Manila area and thus were able to slip through the city’s security checkpoints.

He added that they have been looking at footage from closed circuit television cameras of nearby establishments to identify the license plate of the motorcycle used by the robbers.