THE vehicle thought to have been used as a getaway car by the four men who robbed a jewelry store in downtown Cebu City last Saturday morning, Nov. 25, 2023, was intercepted in a police checkpoint in Barangay Lamacan, Sibonga town around 4 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 27.
Police identified the two persons on board the red Honda Civic as Dann Carlos Geverola Flores, 23, and Jordan Ramos Baquiano, 29, both from Barangay Gutlang in the neighboring town of Argao.
Baquiano has a pending arrest warrant for murder.
Police also recovered a KG9 with six live rounds, a .45 pistol, a hand grenade, a grenade rifle, t-shirts, baseball caps and a sling bag. These are now in the custody of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
Based on surveillance camera footage, the red Honda Civic was following the two motorcycles that the four armed men were riding when they fled the crime scene last Saturday.
The car on the footage had a license plate, while the intercepted car had a carton with “Temp. plate for registration” written on it.
The CCPO admitted receiving information last week about the sighting of criminals from other places in Cebu, prompting CCPO Director Col. Ireneo Dalogdog to alert his men.
The CCPO said it will expand its probe to determine whether the group that staged last Saturday’s robbery is the same group that robbed an establishment in Cagayan de Oro because a similar modus operandi was used.
Dalogdog did not rule out the possibility that persons of interest apprehended in Mandaue City last Sunday, Nov. 26, are the accomplices of Flores and Baquiano.
Meanwhile, Dalogdog said they will check security personnel in downtown establishments after learning that some hid inside upon witnessing the robbery because they did not have service firearms.
According to Dalogdog, they will coordinate with the Firearms and Explosives Office to discuss potential penalties that they might impose on security agencies that do not provide weapons to their employees.
Oro Sugbu guard Eliseo Japitan told a radio interview that he had been a guard for 20 years, but he was unarmed at the time of the robbery.
He said the agency provided him with a paltik .38 revolver, but it was defective.
“Pagsugod pa lang nako diri, defective na daan ang armas. Wala pa gyuy bala (Since I was assigned here, the gun was already defective and I didn’t have any bullets),” Japitan said.
Dalogdog stressed the need for pawnshops or financing institutions to install an alarm system so the nearest police station can be notified right away in case of an emergency.
“Naa may mga pawnshop nga naa nay direct contact ba. Naa silay alarm nga gi-install sa ilang pawnshop para anytime nga naay mga insidente nga susama niadto maka connect sila sa police station,” Dalogdog said.
(Some pawnshops have alarms installed so they can communicate with the police station in cases like these).
The CCPO has increased police visibility in the downtown area since last Saturday’s robbery.
In light of the incident, City Councilor Phillip Zafra, committee on peace and security chairman, said there is a need to remind establishments about the existing ordinance that requires them to implement security measures like installing closed-circuit television cameras and alarms.
“Naa tay mga ordinansa ana, and ato lang ang sige’g follow through and uban siguro para lang gyud makadaginot sa galastohan, dili mobutang aning mga devices nga gikinahanglan,” he said in a phone interview on Monday.
(We already have an ordinance on that, and they just need to follow through, and there are others who do not install these devices perhaps because they want to save money.)
He said the City might be forced to amend the ordinance, and penalize establishments or management by slapping them with a suspension or closure order.
“Security is important. We really need to invest in security,” Zafra said.
On Sunday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 media office denied that the four robbers were NBI agents.
“They are not NBI,” it said in a text message.
Two witnesses had said they heard the robbers introduce themselves as NBI agents, and that they were there to arrest the establishment’s guard.
Tata, a jewelry cleaner, said one of the robbers yelled upon entering the store: “The guard is wanted. We are from the NBI. Don’t move.”
The NBI 7 media office said agents visited the robbery scene to interview some people.
“We just got back from the area and interviewed witnesses, but none said the suspects were NBI or introduced themselves as such,” it added.
According to the NBI 7, their personnel always wear badges during an operation. (with AML)
