MALAYBALAY CITY (PIA)—A Cebuana Lhuillier Maramag-based liaison officer and a guard rode in tandem on a motorcycle to distribute cash to its branches in Pangantucan and Kalilangan towns all in Bukidnon, Tuesday morning.

As the two reached a slightly wooded portion of the highway in Barangay Kuya, Maramag, two motorcycles, each with two riders, reportedly blocked them.

Media reports said that the gunmen killed the guard, grabbed the bag with three million pesos in cash from the liaison officer, and fled eastward into populated areas.

Hearing the gunshots, Kuya Punong Barangay Jaime Lictawa phoned the Maramag police, who arrived at the scene and found the guard bloodied and dead of bullet wounds.

Police said the guard, Pedro Gamino Jr, 38, was shot dead.

Separate media reports also said that liaison officer Medardo Fantonial, 31, who was driving the motorcycle was unhurt.

In a radio interview, Gamino's surviving wife of three kids said that her spouse had been with Cebuana Lhuillier for three years.

“I hope the investigators will also focus on the fact that my husband had bullet wounds in the body and the head as well, while the company’s liaison officer-driver was unharmed,” she said in dialect.

Suspects identified, charged

In a manhunt launched, authorities apprehended three suspects on Friday morning.

Police reports showed that Fantonial, the company’s liaison, was tagged as one of the suspects in the robbery.

Police Colonel Reynante R. Reyes, the newly-installed provincial director of Bukidnon Police Provincial Office said that of the five suspects, three had been detained at Maramag police station while inquests are ongoing.

“The two other suspects are still at large but were identified and charged through regular filing,” he added.

As this develops, Reyes warns would-be criminals in Bukidnon that there is no place to hide because the long arm of the law will track down, arrest, and prosecute them. (RLRB/PIA 10-Bukidnon)