Inside job eyed in Pasay hotel heist

MANILA, Philippines — Police are looking into the possibility that the P4-million robbery at a hotel in Pasay City on Tuesday could be an inside job.

Probers said the four robbers knew that the earnings of the Mabuhay Manor had not been deposited in the bank before they pulled off the heist.

The suspects also took cash and valuables from the guests and employees.

The Southern Police District said employees of the hotel would be invited for questioning.

One of the hotel’s security guards, Jho-an Jabagat, 30, of Blue Flame Security Agency, submitted a statement to police. But he refused to be interviewed by media.

Police have produced computerized facial composites of the suspects, including the one who disarmed Jabagat of his .36-caliber handgun.

The suspects’ sketches were based on closed-circuit television footage of the hotel.

Investigation showed that the robbers took more than $82,000 in cash and valuables from a Filipino-American citizen and his relatives and P53,000 of the hotel’s earnings for the day.

 The suspects tried to open the vault, which contained at least P500,000, but failed after hotel auditor Rudy de Guzman resisted.