Organized crime groups have are now shifting from kidnapping to big-time robberies, an anti-crime crusader said Monday.
"In our study, the MRPO (Movement for the Restoration of Peace and Order) sees a pattern of shift from kidnapping to robberies. It's very obvious, kidnapping is an at all-time low and bank robberies have become more brazen," MRPO chairwoman Teresita Ang-See told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."
Ang-See said that based on MRPO's records, kidnapping is at an all-time low.
"It's the same pattern in 2000, kidnapping was at an all-time low, but robbery [incidents] was at an all-time high," she said.
She added that kidnapping groups that have been declared by police as "neutralized" with the arrest of the gang leaders, may be becoming "very desperate" to haul money.
She said robbers today are equipped with high-powered guns, just like kidnapping gangs that have been disbanded by the police.
Sending a message
On Friday, bank robbers killed 10 people, nine of whom were employees of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), and escaped with undetermined amount of money.
Director General Avelino Razon Jr., Philippine National Police chief, said the perpetrators of the gruesome killing could be sending a message to authorities.
"They were showing their boldness, but it will not prevent us... The police will double its efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime," Razon said.
Razon said Task Force RCBC is already focusing on a robbery syndicate that operates in Laguna and Batangas provinces. He declined to name the group as he said follow up operations were being conducted by police operatives.
He added the task force was talking with a witness who could have give the police good leads in determining the identities of the killers. He said the witness led to the police's recovery of a Mitsubishi Adventure that was used by the robbers.
Razon said two RCBC security guards have been subjected to paraffin and polygraph tests. He said the two, despite their voluntary surrender and denial of their involvement in the bloody heist, are not yet off the hook.
'Unusual, gruesome killings'
Police investigators said the robbers lined up the 10 victims and shot them in the head one-by-one.
Razon said that the RCBC massacre shocked him as it was the most gruesome and senseless he knew in his over 30 years in active police service.
"I was shocked with the gruesome killing. The victims were made to line up and shot in the head," he said.
Razon, who once served as Metro Manila police director, said that robbers "normally will go after the money." He said there are a very few cases the robbers will kill.
"This is the first time that we saw a senseless killing [done by robbers]," he said.
Ang-See said that lately, robberies in Metro Manila and other provinces are becoming too bloody.
She cited the latest incident in Manila, where two policemen and a businessman were shot dead by robbers in broad daylight.
Last Monday, Police Officers 3 Francisco Neri and Jose Santos were fatally shot during a shootout with robbers at Malate district.
The shootout took place after two motorcycle-riding robbers killed businessman Alfred Dy on board his beige Honda CR-V (ZJA 847).
The robbers escaped with Dy’s P1 million.