CABUYAO, LAGUNA – Nine employees including a security guard of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) in Barangay Pulo were killed in a bank robbery yesterday. The ten victims were shot in the head by still unknown suspects. The bank is located at the Laguna Industrial Science Park (LISP), in an isolated area surrounded by vacant lots and an open field in front.
The victims were identified as Roberto Panganiban Castro (bank’s branch manager), Bernardo Lapaan (marketing manager), Benjamin Nicdao (teller), Teresita Umayam, (teller), Olga Gonzales (teller), Noel Miranda (operations assistant), Juan Leyva (janitor),Baltazar Agilando (security guard) and Ferdinand Antonio (bank’s client and liaison officer of Pro-Dental Clinic).
The bank’s customer relations manager Isagani Pastor later died while being treated at
According to Edwin Ermita, RCBC vice president and chief security officer, that it was already pass 9:00 in the morning when employees of Laguna Industrial Park noticed the growing number of customers who where waiting outside the bank.
This is not normal because the bank opens at exactly 9:00 A.M. One client already called RCBC complaining about the delay in the opening of the bank but when the main branch called Cabuyao branch no one is answering the phone.
Because of this, a security officer of the park Officer Lucop assisted one of the clients and tried going inside but when they peek at the glass door they saw bodies sprawled on the floor.
They immediately called the police. The police broke the glass door to gain an entry.
All bodies were found sprawled on the floor with a single gunshot wound to their heads. Two bodies were found inside the open bank vault. Police said each of the victims was shot in the head while lined up.
Investigators also learned one of the security guards were missing. Closed circuit security cameras of the bank had been turned off, raising suspicions that the missing guards assigned to the morning shift were involved in the robbery-killings.
Meanwhile, Laguna Governor Teresita Lazaro offered a Php 100,000 reward for the arrest of the suspects as the Calabarzon regional police formed a task force led by Fojas to track down the killers.
Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. also offered a Php 100,000 bounty for the arrest of the suspects.
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