Report: Eight people charged for P12.7-M New Year bank robbery in Iloilo

At least eight people were charged for a P12.7-million New Year robbery at an East-West Bank in downtown Iloilo City on January 3. The police filed charges of robbery in band and frustrated homicide against the eight people before the City Prosecutor’s Office, the news site The Daily Guardian reported on Wednesday. Of the eight people, only three were named: Arman Mayormente of Brgy. Jereos, La Paz district; Jade Catedral of Badiangan, Iloilo; and Rose Aina Sarmiento of Brgy. Libo-o, Dingle town. The frustrated murder case stemmed from the shooting of bank service support associate Karyn Flor Valasote, whose left thigh was wounded during the heist. Valasote narrated in her affidavit how the robbery happened and how she was shot by one of the suspects. Former bank security guard Lony Pablico executed an affidavit naming Catedral as the one who allegedly pointed a cal-.45 pistol at him and ordered him to drop to the bank’s floor. PO2 Hector Pabalan of the PNP Regional Special Operations (RSOG) identified Mayormente and Sarmiento through the footages from the bank’s security camera as well as the police rogues’ gallery. Bank branch manager Liberty Valderrama acted as nominal complainant in the case through an authorization and special power of attorney from the EastWest bank board. Valderrama said the bank is bent on pursuing the case to give the police a basis to arrest the suspects. Iloilo City police chief Senior Superintendent Marietto Valerio, who accompanied the bank employees and RSOG in filing the case, said Mayormente, Sarmiento and Catedral are still in Iloilo. However, he said the five other suspects, considered as “John Does," are out of Iloilo already. – VVP, GMA News