By Saul E. Pa-a
CAMP VICENTE LIM, Calamba City (PNA) -– Calabarzon and Pagbilao, Quezon police continued on Wednesday their investigations of the P9.4 million robbery-hold up along the Maharlika Highway noontime Tuesday.
In a report to the Calabarzon police regional office here, Pagbilao police officer-in-charge Chief Inspector Von June Borja Nuyda, recommended further probe into the biographical details of three employees of the Philippine Postal Corporation San Pablo City branch office and the hired driver of the Starex van they were riding on towards Pagbilao when the P9.4 million cash heist occurred.
Chief Inspector Nuyda recommended polygraph tests to determine the truthfulness of the employees’ and driver’s statements due to their inconsistencies and the turnover of all their communication gadgets/cellphones to CIDG Lucena City for possible contacts with cohorts.
Some P9.4 million pesos worth of poor beneficiaries’ money for the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” (4Ps) or the government’s conditional cash transfer program were carted away by three unidentified robbers along the Maharlika highway in Sitio Pulong-Tuiting, Barangay Silangang Malicboy in Pagbilao, Quezon shortly before noon on a Muslim “Eid Al Adha” national holiday.
Police reports reaching the regional police headquarters here disclosed that Pagbilao police led by PCI Nuyda were informed by a concerned citizen through phone and immediately dispatched cops to investigate the robbery-hold up incident in front of the Valmyns Eatery along the Daang Maharlika.
Police said that the hired driver Brian Magbutay Dizon, 34 of Brgy San Nicolas, San Pablo City of the Starex van with plate number WFC 753 was blocked by three unidentified armed men at the Maharlika Highway when he was about to board the van after lunch.
The robbers wearing helmets, jackets and jeans and sporting sunglasses poked their guns at driver Dizon and asked the van key but the latter refused.
Meantime, the driver’s three passengers Geraldine Fabila Badong, 44, of Marasigan Apartment, Brgy Lalig, Tiaong, Quezon; Nino Santiago Calabia, 34, of Bagongbayan, San Pablo City, and Patrick James Gesulga Putungan, 32, also took their lunch at the side-road eatery when the heist happened.
The van driver’s refusal to give the key prompted the robbers to shoot him several times hitting his left foot and one of the criminal suspects forcibly drove the van towards the middle of the highway to block and jam traffic.
As traffic was stalled, one of the suspects carted the blue sack containing the P9.4 million pesos intended for the beneficiaries of 4Ps of San Francisco, Quezon.
According to police investigations, the robbers still brandished their guns as they carried the loot towards their get-away scooter vehicle.
The suspects fled on board the yellow-colored Yamaha Mio motorcycle without plate number and headed towards the Pagbilao town proper.
The wounded driver Dizon was immediately brought to Jane County Hospital in Pagbilao for medical treatment.
Pagbilao cops recovered from the crime scene the Starex van, four empty shells and a live bullet from a caliber 9mm and another live bullet from the caliber 38.
Crime authorities said the recovered ammunitions and empty shells will be turned-over to the Quezon Provincial Crime Laboratory in Camp Nakar, Lucena City for firearms examination and identification, cross matching and the lifting of latest prints on the vehicle.
Pagbilao Chief of Police Nuyda also immediately created a team to conduct in-depth investigation of the case led by Senior Police Officer 1(SPO1) Henry Uy and Police Officer 2 Nathaniel Romaraog.
Nuyda also tasked his deputy chief Police Senior Inspector Fernando C. Reyes III and Senior Police Officer 1 Leo Lagrazon to oversee the follow up and intelligence monitoring in San Pablo City for possible identification of the personalities involved in the said incident.