Pasay robbers may have targeted, but failed to clean out, hotel vault — police

The four suspects in the Pasay hotel robbery early Tuesday morning carried out their crime “in a matter of five minutes” but failed to clean out the establishment’s vault, said the police district’s spokesperson on Tuesday.

Phone lines in the Mabuhay Manor Hotel on F.B. Harrison Street were also allegedly disabled within the same time frame, but Pasay police spokesperson Superintendent Gene Licud declined to say if the suspects are a part of a professional group, pending the results of an investigation of the robbery.

National Capital Region Police Chief Director Oscar Albayalde has ordered a manhunt for the escaped suspects, and investigators are seeking to determine the role of the security personnel in the robbery, as it appears only one guard was stationed at the hotel when the crime took place.

“This is the first incident that happened this year. We would like to make sure that no other incident will happen again in the future,” NCRPO spokesperson Chief Inspector Kimberly Molitas told reporters.

Police are looking into whether or not the vault was the suspect’s real target, Licud said in an interview on Balitanghali.

“Accordingly, they were looking for the vault, that is included in the statement of the victims and the statement of the hotel management. So kailangan nating alamin talaga kung ang target talaga nila ay ‘yung vault. If that’s the case, then we have another scenario,” said Licud.

But their 3 a.m. haul was already sizable—P33,000 of the hotel’s income, and $15,800 in cash, gadgets worth $7,000, a Rolex watch valued at $13,000 and jewelry worth $29,950, all from an overseas Filipino worker and his family.

The suspects escaped in a black Hyundai Starex, leaving 50 other hotel guests undisturbed.

Responding policemen supposedly arrived in two minutes. They had just made their rounds before the hotel robbery took place, said Licud. — BM, GMA News