Mabolo church robbery an “inside job” – police

A lone burglar carted away about P400,000 and left an injured church staff of the Saint Joseph de Patriarch Parish in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City Sunday night.

Mabolo Police Station Head Chief Inspector Jacinto Mandal said the incident was an inside job, allegedly committed by a church scholar, who also supervises the collection of money.

Roxane Valmoria, 26, the key holder of the steel cabinet where the cash is located, was on her way to the upper portion of the church, when the suspect, Alexander Lumactad, reportedly approached and knocked her unconscious by punching her three times in the face.

“The reason behind iya gipasakitan ang biktima is because he was identified. Mao man gud nay rason ngano iya gipasakitan, kung manulis ka,” Mandal said.

Since he was familiar with the religious structure, the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the church did not record his movements.

“If you check the CCTV camera, di nimo makita siya, di nimo mahagip, because he knows the terrain of the church,” Mandal said.

The suspect was even able to return the key back to the victim and fled the scene after the incident.

“In order to mislead the investigators, he is already thinking nga katong biktima is already dead, iyang gibalik ang yawe,” Mandal said.

Mandal said that they will also subject the security guard for questioning.

Security guard Archie Ynot, 28, who lives in Olanggo, Lapu-Lapu City, said he was doing his roving inspection in the church but did not notice anything unusual that night.

Since this is not the first time that the church was burglarized, Mabolo Barangay Captain Reynaldo Ompoc, suggested that the church install more CCTV cameras and additional guards since the area is too big for one security personnel to cover.

He said that they are already checking with the shipping lines and other contacts of the suspect for his arrest, especially that the incident took place late Sunday night, but the police and barangay authorities only knew about the incident around 8:40 a.m. yesterday.

“We (did) hot pursuit operations, for possible recovery of stolen items,” Mandal said.

As of the moment hot pursuit operations are still ongoing to arrest the suspect while the church staff who sustained injuries in her face is still in a private hospital and is recovering from her wounds.

The police are planning to file a charge for robbery with serious physical injuries against the suspect.

Meanwhile, Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said the robbery incident at the Mabolo church should serve as a wakeup call to other churches to not keep huge amount of money inside the premises because it will attract people to commit crime.

He said the money should be deposited directly to the bank for security purposes.

“On the part of the church, I think they should not place that huge amount in the convent. It should be deposited every now and then in the bank. We asked the police to conduct immediate action or investigation and bring into the bar of justice who are responsible,” Labella said.

Labella served as barangay captain of Mabolo, where the church is located for several years before elected as city councilor, and eventually as vice mayor.

In addition, he was presently residing at the said barangay. The Mabolo church is located several meters from the police station and stands right in front of the barangay hall.