A Season of Violence and Death
Written on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 8:25 pm | by butchRom wrote with anguish on the deaths of ten individuals, murder victims who were killed in a successful robbery of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) branch in Cabuyao, Laguna. They were murdered, meaning they were deliberately, willfully and premeditatedly killed in cold blood by the murderers who merely wanted, in all probability, to hide their primary crime. Which was robbery. It was the money they were after, and these people were simply in the way. The victims were all shot in the head, quickly, efficiently and with little fuss.
The killers’ calculus was simple and chilling: No witnesses, lesser chances of getting caught. And so they went about their grisly business, systematically slaughtering ten people, whose grim fate was sealed the moment the butchers stepped into the bank .
And they were successful in their task. So successful, in fact, that they left behind bundles of cash worth hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of pesos in various denominations and currencies, including U.S. dollars and Japanese yen, scattered in and around the bank premises, bills soaked in the blood of their helpless victims. And they got away with it, at least for now.
The RCBC branch, located in the 173-hectare Light Industry & Science Park in Laguna, would have had cash on hand at the tellers’ drawers and the opened vault running into the tens of millions. It was the last banking day of the week and the bank’s many clients at the industrial park would have kept the staff busy attending to their transactions before the weekend.
The names of the dead bear mentioning, as a way of mourning, remembrance and sharing in the grief of those they left behind: Branch manager Roberto Panganiban Castro, tellers Benjamin Nicdao and Olga Gonzalez, operations assistant Noel Miranda, new accounts officer Teresa Umayam, cashier service head Bernardo Lapaan Jr., janitor Juan Leyva, security guard Baltazar Aguilando and a depositor’s representative Ferdinand Antonio. Marketing manager Isagani Pastor later died in the hospital.
They are likely to join the ranks of the unavenged, Rom fears.
Just three days before, businessman-lawyer Alfred Dy, who had just withdrawn P1 million from a Banco De Oro branch in Paco, Manila for his junkyard business, was killed by six robbers who then slew two responding policemen in an ensuing shootout. The killers didn’t even bother to ask Atty. Dy to hand over the cash. They just shot him dead while he was inside his car, smashed the window and took the money.
The names of the dead policemen likewise need to be mentioned: Police Officer 2 Francisco Neri and Police Officer 3 Jose Ysmael Santos, both assigned to the Paz Street, Paco police community precinct .
They were off-duty at the time, overheard the commotion and shot at the armed robbers. Unknown to the cops, the robbers had other triggermen watching their backs, who then treacherously gunned them down.
Both incidents seem to indicate an “inside job”, as a tipster from inside the bank seems to have alerted the robbers in the killing of Atty. Dy, while there was no sign of forcible entry in the RCBC robbery. In fact, probers surmise that the RCBC victims were killed precisely because they knew or could identify some of the perpetrators.
This ushers in a season of violence and death, brought about in no small way, as mentioned by a comment in Rom’s post, by poverty. Its certainly no accident that the food and energy crises, the atmosphere of blatant corruption pervading the country, and overall harder times has brought about other forms of evil and lawlessness. This will surely not be the last such incident. Even so, the brutality and utter disregard for human life is certainly unusual and disturbing. Life has always been cheap in the Philippines, but the manner in which these crimes have been lately carried out border on the demonic.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco denounced the killings, saying:
Extremely disturbing acts like these are an assault on the security of banking institutions that can harm public confidence.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the spate of bank robberies poses a serious threat to national security.
The Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) also expressed indignation over the incident.
BAP executive director Leonilo Coronel said the robbery of the RCBC branch in Laguna was carried out in a very unusual and alarming style. Coronel said bank personnel are usually non-confrontational in such situations and this level of violence is not necessary. He said bank employees are not trained to engage in such situations. Coronel, sounding shaken, said:
Casualties related to bank robberies usually result from shoot-outs or hostage situations but never like this. It’s inhuman. It’s disturbing. It’s something beyond anything we’ve contemplated.
Obviously, to a greater or lesser extent, we are all victims of these acts. We pay the price in grief, family, friends and colleagues lost, lives lived in fear and frustration. And helpless anger against the seemingly inutile posturing of police and other government officials whose track record in apprehending and punishing these criminals have been less than reassuring.
It’s incidents such as these that make one pray for the re-imposition of the death penalty. Why not an eye for an eye, as retribution for the victims’ families and society as a whole against those who so wantonly and heartlessly disregard the most fundamental rules of human decency ? It makes one almost wish for the return of the vigilantism prevalent until lately in Davao City and during Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim’s first stint in office . The incapacitation of murderers, or the termination of their activities “with extreme prejudice”, will certainly prevent them from killing again and save innocent lives. At the very least, it could have a deterrent effect on those who are contemplating killing others for fun or profit.
I’m certain the RCBC murderers took some cold, cruel comfort, while they were pulling the triggers on their victims, from the knowledge that, however heinous their crimes, they would never be lawfully executed by the State.
Laguna killings revive death penalty debate in Senate.
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11 Responses to “A Season of Violence and Death”
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“The killers’ calculus was simple and chilling: No witnesses, lesser chances of getting caught. And so they went about their grisly business, systematically slaughtering ten people, whose grim fate was sealed the moment the butchers stepped into the bank.”
Your use of the word calculus especially shows in stark relief how methodical the slays seem to be.
I wish the investigators a successful hunt. They owe it to the victims, and society at large.
[…] Voices have already expressed their opinion (in Rom’s case, her anguish), and this part from Atty. Butch’s post caught my interest: I’m certain the RCBC murderers took some cold, cruel comfort, while they […]
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[…] post is about those who were massacred in the RCBC bank robbery. It’s an emotional time for many individuals, and even those who didn’t know the […]
[…] Warrior Lawyer, writing at the Filipino Voices group blog, wants the death penalty back: “It’s incidents such as these that make one pray […]
One of the root causes of these increasing crimes of robberies, thefts, etc. committed with cold blooded killings is — poverty.
Adrin Cardon’s Article “How blessed are the poor?” (The Daily Tribune) is worth reading. http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20080521com6.html
Only God knows. We can’t do anything but to pray and let Him do the rest. It’s the perfect time to talk to our Lord Jesus Christ and think of what the Bible said about the “money” - root of all evil!!
I agree, Mabini, poverty is indeed a factor. But there are other environmental influences which also contribute to the prevalence of crime, like corruption and the selective and inconsistent application of laws.
Anne,you are right in that our faith and prayer is indispensable in helping us get through these difficult times. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil, not money per se. Materialism, or excessive attachment to worldly things and pleasures,is what brings us grief.
[…] Touched by an Angel focused on the human dimension of the grisly bank robbery, her husband, The Warrior Lawyer, delved into what was particularly horrifying about the crime, which was the methodical liquidation […]
May there be justice for all the victims of this crime.Specially to the two good cops like PO3 Neri and SPO1 Jose Ysmael Santos.
[…] The Philippines has once again created news worldwide after the deadly bank robbery at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) branch in Cabuyao, Laguna. From FilipinoVoices: […]