CEBU CITY -- Police have identified the third suspect who died at the Cebu City Medical Center after a botched holdup of an armoured car that was transporting money to an uptown mall here.
The policemen who were wounded after responding to the incident, which occurred at Robinsons Place in uptown Cebu City around 9:30 a.m. Monday, received awards and cash from Police Regional Office-Central Visayas Director Ager Ontog.
Police Officers Elrich Catacutan and Roy Ceniza, who were confined at the Chong Hua Hospital, received the Medalya ng Sugatang Magiting (PNP Wounded Personnel Medal).
Catacutan and Ceniza, members of the Mobile Patrol Group, were taking a man they had arrested for pickpocketing to the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office, along with another policeman, when they saw the armoured van and the commotion as they passed Robinsons Place Monday morning.
The police team pulled over by the road and shot at the three robbers who were identified to be from Ozamiz City.
The robbers took from a bank teller of Chinabank P1.2 million inside the Robinsons Place, which only last April was hit by a fire and reopened last July. They were blending with the shoppers, with two of them sitting on the benches.
The robbers were fleeing onboard two motorcycles when Catacutan and Ceniza saw them. They shot back at the policemen, hitting Catacutan in the chest and Ceniza.
The third policeman called for back-up. Minutes later, six patrol cars arrived and went after the robbers.
One of the suspects who died at the Cebu City Medical Center later Monday was identified as Melencio Quiapo.
A fourth robber, said to be the mastermind and who got hit in the butt in the police pursuit, was also identified as Junjun Cabando. He reportedly fled to Subangdaku in Mandaue City after the incident. He remained at large.
Police had taken two women related to Cabando for questioning.
The police said they received intelligence reports that the robbers pulled major heists in Banco De Oro in Cagayan De Oro City and Chinabank in Kalubihan, Leyte.
Nobody claimed the suspects' remains, which were left in different funeral homes in this city.
Police have yet to determine if the recovered motorcycles had been stolen. (Davinci S. Maru/Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
