Cops nab 1 of 5 suspects in Ceres robbery
Senior Supt. Norlito Bautista (right), Chief
Directorial Staff of Police Regional Office 6, and
Senior Supt. Melvin Mongcal, provincial director
of Iloilo Provincial Police Office, present to the
media 18-year old Mar John Arcenas, one of the
five suspects in the robbery of Ceres Liner bus
last Sunday.
ECGARCIA
Police yesterday presented to the media one of the five suspects in the robbery of a Ceres bus last Sunday in Brgy. Bantud, Batad, Iloilo.
Mar John Arcenas, 18 years old, was collared by the joint operatives of the Batad Police Station and the 603rd Provincial Mobile Group in a hot pursuit operation Monday afternoon in Brgy. Calaor of the same town.
Police Insp. Edencio Arenas, chief of Batad PNP, said Arcenas was positively identified by one of the passengers of the Ceres bus.
However, the four other unidentified suspects remain at large.
Arcenas, meanwhile, strongly denied the allegation that he was involved in the robbery.
Arcenas told The News Today that he was walking beside the road with a friend when he was picked up by the authorities.
Arcenas even claimed that when the hold up incident happened Sunday afternoon he was watching television at their house.
Arcenas, who is a resident of Brgy. Embarcadero, Batad, is a third year high school student at Batad National High School Tanao Campus.
Police said two of the suspects boarded the Ceres bus 6574 at its terminal in Estancia, Iloilo while the three others boarded at Brgy. Bantud where they immediately declared the hold up.
The suspects, armed with unidentified firearms, forcibly took and carted away the cash money and valuables of the more or less 30 passengers and the cash collection of bus collector Ermie Amanao amounting to more or less P5,000.
Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 regional director Chief Supt. Wilfredo Dulay Sr., in a statement read by Senior Supt. Norlito Bautista, commended all the PNP personnel involved in the immediate arrest of one of the robbery suspects.
"With this development, we are confident to get the other four suspects as soon as possible," Dulay said.
"Truly, we are alarmed of the robbery incidents that occurred in the province of Iloilo. We don't allow another robbery to victimize our people. We cannot let the perpetrators of these crimes go freely," he added.
Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Melvin Mongcal, director of the Iloilo Provincial Police Office, said they are investigating the possible affiliation of the suspects in other robbery cases in Iloilo province.
He, however, noted that the record of robbery cases in Iloilo from January to June last year was 19 which is higher compared to the same period this year which is only 16 incidents.