Rodolfo Ugang Jr. | Irene Sino Cruz
CEBU CITY, Philippines–A neighbor of one of the suspects in the Saturday night armed robbery at the J Centre Mall in Mandaue City has asked Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella to help him facilitate a meeting with Mandaue City police.
Rodolfo Ugang Jr., a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) manager, said that he wanted to personally talk to the police to deny any involvement in the robbery incident.
“Sa akong safety okay ra ko, pero ang ako sa akong mga anak ug sa akong asawa. Gusto ko nga i-clear na ko aron wala nay mag sige ug surveillance nako nga police,” he said in an interview with reporters during his City Hall visit this morning, October 21.
(I am more concerned of the safety of my children and wife. I wanted my name cleared so police will no longer be conducting surveillance operations against me.)
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Ugang said that he occupies a unit in an apartment in Barangay Tayud in Lilo-an town that is located close to the one that was also occupied by one of the robbery suspects, whom he failed to name, and members of the latter’s family.
Mandaue police identified Glenn Tairos, the alleged leader of the J Centre Mall robbery group, as the one who occupied the apartment unit in Tayud.
The police raided the apartment unit on Sunday morning as part of their follow up operation against Tairos’ robbery group. Tairos was killed during a police operation which happened a few hours after his group allegedly robber four pawnshops and a money changer that was located on the mall’s ground floor.
Read More: Rob group leader among four killed, five others arrested in Bogo, Sogod
Ugang said that the police, who raided Tairos’ leased apartment unit on Sunday, attempted to also open his Nissan Sedan that was parked nearby. But Ugang told the police that he was owner of the vehicle.
The BPO manager, who is son of Labell’s good friend, Atty. Ugang Sr., expressed worry that police may implicate him in the robbery incident.
Ugang told reporters that while he has seen Tairos a few times since his family moved into the four-door apartment unit in Tayud, almost two months ago, he never had the opportunity to personally meet him. He does not even know his name.
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Ugang said that he would normally see Tairos at their apartment unit at night.
“Wala gyud gani mi nagka storya ana nila. Bag-o man silang balhin,” he said.
(I haven’t even talked to him. They recently transferred in our area.)
Labella personally called Colonel Jonathan Abella, chief of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), to relay to him Ugang’s concerns. The Cebu City mayor also asked an office staff to accompany Ugang to MCPO.
Before he left, Labella told Ugang to tell police everything that he knew about Tairos. / dcb