Mayor to meet cops, mall operators
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella will meet with the mall owners and their respective security agencies today to prevent a similar heist and to prepare for a better response once a heinous crime happens inside the establishment.
This after about 15 robbery suspects took jewelry worth P130 million from pawnshops and cash amounting to P6 million from a money changer at J Centre Mall in Mandaue City last Saturday.
The meeting is set to be attended by Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Gemma Vinluan, who will present a report to Labella on what they had been doing for the prevention of crimes involving robbery.
“We have to see to it that our malls will be safeguarded, prevented from this kind of criminal activities from bad elements of society,” said Labella.
He added that Vinluan has assured him that there is police visibility in the banks, malls, and pawnshops around the city.
During the meeting, the CCPO will be asked on what are their contingency measures and intensified intelligence gathering to prevent the city establishments from being robbed.
Mall owners and security agencies will also be asked about their preventive measures, what kind of intelligence are made for their malls in order to prevent robbery, and how trained are their personnel to meet such contingencies.
Labella stressed that security agency owners should equip their security guards with sufficient appropriate weapons.
“I hope what happened in Mandaue will never happen here in Cebu City,” said Labella.
Meanwhile, Rodolfo Ugang Jr., a resident of Barangay Tayud Liloan, Cebu, went to Labella’s office yesterday to ask for help to clarify his name with the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO).
His father, Lawyer Rodolfo Ugang Sr., is Labella’s friend.
Ugang and his family happened to live right next to the apartment unit where a group of the robbery suspects and their family were believed to have resided for almost two months.
He narrated that the police went to their area on Sunday morning to conduct an investigation and was about to forcefully open his car until he approached them.
He said that when he told the police that the car was his property, he immediately realized that they might be under surveillance also since they lived next to the unit of the identified robbers.
“Murag apil naman nuon ko na ilang i-investigate and under surveillance nya di ko gusto nga manglakaw mi sa akong pamilya, ako maglakaw ko, kaliton lang nya kog bunlot,” said Ugang.
Ugang asked for Labella’s help to reach MCPO Head Jonathan Abella for him to explain his side and clear his name.
Labella told Abella that Ugang will meet him and will also provide MCPO some information that might be useful for the identification of those robbers in Mandaue City.
On the other hand, Labella advised the barangays to take an active role in identifying those transient persons arriving in the city.
He also advised the boarding house and apartment owners to be very vigilant.
“Tan-awon sad ang mga transients na gusto mamuyo sa ilang mga boarding houses. They have to investigate and inquire very thoroughly. Unsa ilang tuyo, unsa ilang trabaho, diin sila gikan,” said Labella.