Inside job eyed in Quiapo robbery

IN AN act described by the police as “brazen,” a lone robber shot dead the finance officer of an appliance store as she was walking toward a bank in Quiapo, Manila, to deposit P100,000 in cash on Monday morning.

Police officials interviewed by Inquirer said that the incident may have been an inside job, with the victim’s coworker now being considered “a person of interest” in the case. They added that the lone robber was bold because he carried out the crime just a few meters away from the Carriedo area where policemen were clearing roads of street vendors.

Evelyn Dacatimbamg of A-Zone Appliances and Electronics in Sta. Cruz, Manila, was walking toward P. Gomez Street when the assailant shot her in the nape with a cal. .45 about 10:05 a.m. Monday.

According to the police, the robber who was clad in a dark jacket, bull cap and pants casually walked away afterward with the victim’s blue shoulder bag.

Despite the fact that there were a lot of people about, no one was alerted to the crime until they saw Dacatimbang’s bloodied body lying on the road.

Chief Insp. John Guiagui, head of the Quiapo police precinct, said that as a result, no one ran after the robber as witnesses thought that the sound they heard was made by a firecracker.

He added that they were clearing Carriedo of street vendors when informed of the heist.

“She was still breathing when the robber left her but eventually, she died while waiting for the ambulance near Quiapo Church to arrive. That took about five minutes,” Guiagui said.

One of the witnesses—a fruit vendor—told the Inquirer that “everything happened so fast.”

“I thought they were a couple because the man had one arm wrapped around the [victim’s shoulder] as they walked together,” he said.

However, he and the other witnesses could not give a description of the robber although police officials said they believed it was an inside job.

Supt. Jackson Tuliao, chief of Sta. Cruz police station that oversees the Quiapo area, said that the robber seemed “very knowledgeable” of Dacatimbang’s movements.

“How come the robber knew she would deposit a big amount of money? How come the robber also knew the time she would leave the store?” Tuliao said.

According to Guiagui, “one of Dacatimbang’s coworker was now considered a person of interest.

Based on the footage taken by the appliance store’s closed circuit television camera, one of the victim’s male coworkers was spotted sending text messages on his cell phone while standing close to Dacatimbang as she was preparing the money she was about to deposit.

The footage shown to Inquirer showed the male employee often tilting his head to check on Dacatimbang. He looked at her at least three times until she left the store on Ronquillo Street at 10 a.m.

“When Dacatimbang left, he [called] someone,” Guiagui pointed out. “But when we asked for his phone, all messages and call logs had already been deleted. He could not tell us why he deleted everything.”

Tuliao said they would submit the employee’s cell phone to Camp Crame so they could retrieve his text exchanges.