BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
ILOILO City – One of the two victims of a robbery incident in Brgy. Our Lady of Lourdes, Jaro district was arrested and could be facing a charge for conspiring with the robbers.
Joemarie Amboboyog, 38, of Brgy. Mansaya, Bo. Obrero, La Paz distrit, a driver of a motorcycle where his co-employee, April Joy Garillos was back-riding, is now detained at the cell of the Iloilo City Police Station 3 in Jaro.
He will be charged with robbery for conspiring with the two robbers.
This after one of the witnesses, Sherwin Acevedo of Brgy. Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo district, revealed some information to the police on the involvement of Amboboyog.
Acevedo was a former employee of HOL Marketing owned by Charles Lao where Amboboyog and Garillos were working.
According to him, in one instance during a drinking session, Amboboyog asked his group to join him in staging a robbery hold-up of HOL Marketing.
Acevedo added that Amboboyog had been asking him how much money they usually withdraw from the bank.
After this revelation, the police arrested Amboboyog through Lao’s lawyer.
On the other hand, Chief Insp. Rhea Santos, Jaro chief, said the background check they had done on Amboboyog showed that he was involved in some robbery incidents in the province.
Santos said one of the reasons why they arrested Amboboyog was because of his unusual reaction when they were robbed.
“We are wondering why he stopped while the robbers were kicking his motorcycle when he should have sped away. Kung wala siyang involvement as he claimed, sana hindi niya pinatay ang makina ng motorcycle considering na malaking halaga ng pera ang dala nila, ‘yan ang kaduda duda. At isa pa, he was driving very slow kasi ang mga nakaraang drivers mabilis ang takbo nila para ma-avoid ang said incident,” Santos explained.
The two robbers took away P420,000 cash from Amboboyong and Garillos Friday last week around 10:30 a.m.
The victims said the suspects suddenly emerged from behind and kicked their motorcycle slightly. This allegedly prompted the driver to stop and switched off the engine.
At gunpoint, the suspects then grabbed the bag of Garillos containing the money and their mobile phones, and fled towards the Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz.
The victims claimed they could not identify the suspects who both wore jackets, crash helmets and sunglasses./PN
