WPD OFFICIAL WARNED ON DIVISORIA ROBBERY:Solve it or be sacked

Metro Manila police chief director Edgar Aglipay ordered yesterday the Station 11 head of the Western Police District to immediately solve the Nov. 4 Divisoria Mall robbery or be sacked from his post.

Aglipay said Superintendent Juanito de Guzman himself will be investigated if he fails to provide security measures in his area, which was the reason why five armed men barged into the jewelry store and robbed it.

"It’s his responsibility. When we have proven that there have been lapses on his part, I will not hesitate to relieve him," he warned.

Aglipay said he has already directed WPD director Chief Superintendent Avelino Razon to create a team and determine De Guzman’s liability.

Two people were killed while 17 others were seriously injured when five men robbed a jewelry store and lobbed a grenade inside the mall at around 4:25 pm last Saturday.

Meanwhile, the WPD said yesterday it is on the lookout for a wounded member of the Martilyo (hammer) Gang, which staged the bloody robbery.

Superintendent De Guzman said they are now checking out hospitals in the metropolis where the wounded suspect could have been taken by his cohorts.

De Guzman said that once they get to the wounded suspect, he could lead police to his gangmates.

According to the police, the suspect was wounded when he and the other suspects engaged pursuing policemen in a running gunbattle along F. Torres St. in Divisoria.

Killed in the bloody heist were Taiwanese Lao Yan Son, 30, of 107 Maria Clara St., Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City who died while being treated at the Metropolitan Hospital and a certain Joanna Aguilar who died at the Andres Bonifacio Hospital in Tondo.

Police said the suspects, armed with hammers, and clad in barong tagalog, barged into stall DUC33, owned by a certain Lily Co on the second floor of the Divisoria Mall in Sto. Cristo, Divisoria, Manila at about 4:25 p.m.

The suspects then broke the glass display cases of the store with their hammers and carted away assorted jewelry. To avoid being pursued by the security guards, the suspects lobbed a grenade at the foot of the escalator at the mall’s Juan Luna entrance.

Aside from Co, 16 other people were rushed to the Gat Andres Bonifacio, Mary Johnston Hospital, Philippine Hospital and the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center for treatment of shrapnel wounds.

Among those wounded were Eduardo Anayon of Valenzuela, Jenny Tiu and Amelia Villamor Tan of San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City; Lourdes Aquino, 18; Gie dela Peña, 20; Marmen Laurente, 20; Rosalie Arenas, 25; Marisa Mariano, 25, nurse, Marlon Sulepas, 18, waiter; George Cabigting, 43; Robert Teem Enrique Nasario, 22; and Maricel Managan, 23.

Police records show that the Martilyo Gang was also behind at least two previous bloody robberies in Sta. Cruz, Manila, and in Baclaran, Parañaque, three months ago.