Pangasinan Today

FIVE persons were victimized in three separate robbery incidents perpetrated in Baguio City within a span of only over six hours from Sunday night to early Monday morning.

But due to the immediate reporting of these crimes by the victims and the swift action of the police, five of the seven suspects were subsequently arrested.

The victims in the robberies were Aaron Alconis Zamoranos and his girlfriend Jennifer Galvez Palsique, Jesler Mantias Bilao and his girlfriend Madilen Salanap Oteda, and a 14-year-old student of the Doña Aurora High School Annex.

Those arrested for the robbery at Zamoranos and Palsique were Rex Ballog Allig, Paul Bayangan Mangliwan, Clayton Gaboy Budcawon, and a 17-year-old boy.

The fifth suspect, John Phil Queritencia Macalo, was arrested for robbing the 14-year-old victim.

According to Bilao and Oteda, they were walking along Lower Quirino Hill last Monday when two still unidentified men blocked their path.

They said the suspects pointed a gun at them and took their Nokia 7610 and Nokia 1600 cellular phones, Seiko 5 wristwatch, and P1,500 in cash before fleeing towards Camdas Subdivision.

The victims reported the crime to the police over an hour after the incident.

Around 9 p.m. of August 10, Zamoranos and Palsique were walking along UP Drive when they were approached by the four Kalinga students near the corner of the road leading to the Baguio Convention Center.

After they announced the heist, the four students searched for and took the victims’ cellphones and warned them not to report the crime to the police.

However, as soon as the four suspects fled, the victims sought the help of UP security guards Jimmy Cayandag Ciervo and Rolando Abara, who chased and collared the suspects. The stolen loot was recovered.

Charges of robbery with intimidation were prepared for filing against the four suspects before the City Prosecutor’s Office, after they were turned over to personnel of Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Station 5.

Later or around 11:30 p.m. the same night, the 14-year-old victim went to buy canned goods in a nearby store along Evangelista Street, when Macalo approached and asked for some Piattos chips. He threatened to kill the victim if the 14-year-old won’t give him anything.

When the boy said he had no money, the suspect forcibly took a P5 coin from his pocket and left.

But when the boy reached home and reported the incident to his parents, they asked for assistance from personnel of BCPO Station 6, who immediately responded and arrested the suspect along Evangelista Street.

Just like in the case of the four other robbery suspects, charges were also prepared for filing against Macalo.

According to official BCPO records, a total of 99 robberies were perpetrated in Baguio from January 1 to June 30 this year.

This was almost four times the number of robberies reported within the city for the same period last year, which was pegged then at only 27.