Following the daylight robbery staged by two suspects at the Rural Bank of Barotac Viejo in Iloilo City last week, the Negros Occidental PNP leadership has ordered police chiefs in the province to intensify surveillance and monitoring of local banks.
Police Senior Supt. Manuel Felix, PNP Negros Occidental director, ordered police chiefs of the 31 cities and municipalities in the province to intensify anti-criminality initiatives including checkpoint and dragnet operations and police visibility.
Negros Occidental PNP spokesman Police Chief Inspector Rico Santotome Jr. said that field commanders told to rehearse anti-bank robbery operations to avoid a repeat of last week’s incident wherein robbers carted P1.5 million in cash from the Iloilo City rural bank on June 18.
In 2009, the police in Hinigaran town, with the help of bystanders, foiled a bank heist. The robbers were arrested, while two other accomplices were killed in a shootout with the police led by Senior Inspector Sonny Boy Bernus, who responded to the robbery in progress at the branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. —Carmela G. Lapeña/VS
