THE gunmen who robbed a watch store in Greenbelt 5 in Makati City on Oct. 18 attacked the wrong store and scooped up the wrong watches, an arrested suspect said late Tuesday.
Rene Batiencela said his group had planned to hit the more expensive Patek Philippe store, but their pointer, whom he refused to identify, erred and instead pointed them to the adjoining Rolex shop.
Batiencela, a stevedore at the Navotas fish port, made the revelation during Tuesday’s inquest before Makati Assistant Prosecutor Lody Tanchoco.
Batiencela and two other arrested gang mates, Dennis Serquina and Jose Rodriquito, were charged with robbery with homicide for the brazen midday assault on the watch store.
The robbers took 64 Tudor watches worth P6.17 million when they fled after a three-minute fire fight with two Taguig policemen who happened to be in the area. One of the robbers, who was carrying the more expensive Rolex watches, died in the firefight.
Batiencela said he and four others dashed out of the mall and into two waiting cars after the policemen ran out of bullets.
He was later arrested in a resort in Compostela, Cebu, surviving a firefight with National Bureau of Investigation agents who killed four of his companions.
Serquina was arrested in Umingan, Pangasinan, where he had been serving as a bodyguard of the town mayor. It was he who provided the leads leading to the arrest of the third suspect, who is now in custody, and to the identities of the other gang members, NBI officer Ross Jonathan Garcia said. Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rudy Brul
