THREE men fled with over P135,000-worth of mobile phones and cash from a Junrex cell shop in Bogo City yesterday, the second robbery incident to hit the northern city in less than two weeks.
“This is alarming already,” said Cebu Provincial Police Office director Senior Supt. Clifford Gairanod.
He warned Bogo City Police Station chief P/Supt. Richard Oliver that he will be relieved if he doesn’t improve.
The suspects must be arrested and there should be no other major robbery incident in the city, he added.
For now, Gairanod said Oliver is under probation as police chief in Bogo.
Gairanod hoped that the robberies would not affect the peace and order situation in Bogo, especially during the May 9 election.
He said they were looking into allegations that spread through social media about the spate of robberies every election period.
Pablo “Jun” Yap Jr., president and CEO of Junrex Cellphone and Accessories, Inc., declined to comment. He said he had “no details yet” of the robbery.
Bogo Police station investigator P03 Ryan Alarde said the robbery took place at 12:45 p.m. yesterday.
Alarde said one of the three suspects pretended to be a customer looking for an iPhone.
At the time, only outlet in-charge Juvita Nemenzo Frias, 25, was inside the store because sales associate Romel Pogoy, 37, had gone out for lunch.
When Frias said there was no available iPhone, the suspect drew a gun and declared a holdup.
The second suspect then entered, gagged Frias and bound her arms and legs before leaving her in the stockroom.
By the time Pogoy returned, the robbers had taken cash amounting to P8,614, Smart money fund worth P8,000 and assorted mobile phones worth P118,820 from a wooden cabinet.
A hot pursuit operation was immediately launched after the incident.
Among the items taken were two units of Samsung J7 worth P11,990 each or a total of P23,980; seven units of Samsung J2 worth P6,990 each or a total of P48,930; six units of Samsung J1 worth P3,990 each or a total of P23,940; two units of Samsung Tab 3 worth P5,990 each or P11,980; and a black Samsung J5 30 worth P9,990 owned by Frias.
Gairanod said they were investigating all possible angles, including the timing of the robbery. The suspects entered only after the male employee left, he noted.
The store does not have a security guard nor a CCTV camera. Establishments nearby also don’t CCTV cameras.
The incident occurred less than two weeks after a grocery store inside a mall in Bogo was also robbed.
Gairanod said they have not linked the two incidents yet, but they have not discounted the possibility that the same suspects carried out both heists.
He said they already have the names of the possible suspects who robbed the grocery store.
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