ILOILO – Police are looking into a possible inside job in the robbery of a fish vendor on Tuesday night, February 18, in San Enrique, Iloilo.
According to Police Lieutenant Christy Val Dalde, chief of the San Enrique Municipal Police Station, the three suspects executed the robbery in a strategic manner.
Dalde said they believe the crime was well-planned because the robbers knew exactly where and when to strike, suggesting they may have been tipped off about the routine and the big amount of cash the victim, Engelyn Panizalez Pabilona, 42, a resident of the town’s Barangay Cabugao Viejo, was carrying.
“Given that her two helpers were recent hires, we are investigating whether they or someone close to them provided information to the assailants,” the police chief said.
Investigation revealed that Pabilona was returning home from her fish stall in Barangay Man-it, Passi City on Tuesday night. She was accompanied by her two newly hired helpers, John Field Tibon and Mark Serbisa, both from San Dionisio town.
Pabilona and her helpers were traveling through a dimly lit and sparsely populated stretch of Barangay Camiri when a black motorcycle suddenly intercepted their tricycle. Three men in black long-sleeved shirts wearing hats and facemasks blocked their path.
Police said one of the assailants brandished a firearm while another wielded a machete. They threatened Pabilona before seizing her belt bag, which contained P159,000 in cash, and fled toward Passi City.
San Enrique police were reviewing the closed-circuit television camera footages from possible escape routes and a hot pursuit operation was also underway as of this writing.
Dalde further urged residents to report any suspicious activity that may help identify the suspects./PN
