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By Jhunnex Napallacan and Kit Bagaipo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Between four to six robbers took away at least P90,000 from a teller of the Bank of Commerce in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, after killing a security guard shortly before noon Tuesday.

Chief Inspector Jacinto Cesar, Tagbilaran City police chief, said the bank teller had just returned to the bank from picking up the cash deposits of two corporate clients with a driver and an escort when the incident happened.

The robbers fired shots at the ban’s vehicle, killing security guard Remegio Cañizar, who was the first to step out of the vehicle, instantly from a bullet to the back of the head.

The suspects then grabbed a bag containing the money from the teller, but two other security guards inside the bank, Tirso Fullido and Meliton Lamoste, fired at the robbers who were about to escape.

A shootout ensued in which Fullido, Lamoste and one of the suspects were wounded.

Cesar said the police arrested Cresencio Reguya, 38, a resident of Barangay (village) Magsaysay, Talibon, Bohol, who was hit in the back and left arm.

Reguya allegedly belongs to the same gang that held up a Metro Bank teller in Cebu City and got away with P2.7 million last August 13. A security guard was killed while another was wounded during that heist.

The Cebu police also tagged the same gang as responsible for the PenBank robbery in Mandaue City, in which they took at least P2.5 million in cash.

Reguya first identified himself as Ariel Gomez of Guadalupe, Cebu City, but later on police investigators learned his real name.

Cesar said the injured security guards and Reguya are all confined at the Celestino Gallares Hospital in Tagbilaran.

He said there were six suspects but only four carried out the actual robbery. The robbers used three motorcycles as getaway vehicles.

Edwin Amahan, area manager of the Bank of Commerce in the Visayas, said the money the robbers took was a small amount. “It’s less than P100,000,” he said.

Amahan said that, because of the shootout, the robbers managed to take only one of the two bags containing the cash.

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