Suspect in Land Bank robbery surfaces to clear name

A man being tagged by authorities as one of the suspects in Tuesday's bank robbery in Quezon City surfaced and denied any involvement in the crime, GMA News reported Friday. The television report said that Marvie Almencion faced authorities to clear his name after he learned that authorities had been trying to link him as one of the members of the group that robbed a branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines along West Avenue in broad daylight. Almencion, a resident of Brgy. San Isidro in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, said investigators had been showing his mug shot to witnesses of Tuesday's robbery for the identification of the suspects. Police records show that Almencion had been implicated in a previous bank robbery inside a shopping mall in Fairview, Quezon City. Almencion had denied part in the said incident. He added that he was now on the side of authorities, saying that he had indeed previously supplied information to policemen that led to several cases being solved. For his part, Sr. Supt. Magtanggol Gatdula, Quezon City police chief, said they will not be divulging any updates on Tuesday's robbery saying it could compromise their ongoing investigation. "Meron kaming mga (impormasyong) bago pero ayaw na muna naming sabihin pero may mga continuing followup (operation) hindi lang dito sa Metro (Manila)," Gatdula told radio dzMM in an interview. The Land Bank robbers, which authorities said numbered to more than 20, initially planned to cart away money that was to be delivered in the bank but they arrived late. The armed suspects, instead, went for the money in the teller booths and of the bank clients, making off with cell phones, P60,000 cash and checks worth P25,000. The considerable number of suspects involved in Tuesday's robbery also led Gatdula to consider the possibility that they were members of several robbery groups that banded together. "Sa laki ng grupo nila, siguradong hindi kasya sa kanilang lahat ang nakuha nilang P100,000 (The money they carted away is definitely not enough for them)," Gatdula said. Investigators said some of those who staged the Land Bank robbery belong to the same group that robbed a United Coconut Planters Bank branch in Quezon City last September, since both incidents included a female suspect. Witnesses in the Land bank robbery said the men fired warning shots at people in the area before fleeing aboard a Toyota sedan, a pickup, and a Starex van that were later found abandoned by the robbers along Catanduanes Street. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV