Inside job eyed in payroll rob

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Probers are eyeing an inside job, among other angles, in a P1.33-million payroll robbery along the national highway here yesterday.

The stolen money was for the salaries of workers of Itogon Power Generation Corp. (IPGC), an independent power producer that took over the Binga Dam hydroelectric project in Itogon town.

Police said IPGC finance officer Enrico Bambao and his assistant, Brendan Apilas, were robbed at gunpoint by three hooded men at about 1:35 p.m. in Sitio Guiweng, Barangay Tinongdan.

The two executives, along with driver Nestor Umali, were en route to the dam site when they came upon huge boulders blocking the road. Umali alighted, and the robbers accosted him.

The driver managed to run away, leaving behind Bambao and Apilas who were blindfolded. The robbers fled aboard a blue Tamaraw FX. — Artemio Dumlao