Catholic school in Manila, entered by heavily armed men

Miami
October 31, 2008
Story: Catholic school in Manila, entered by heavily armed men

A school in Manila has been entered by about 10 to 12 armed men Friday morning but were not able to break in inside school premises.

According to Sr. Supt. Ferdinand Quirante, Station Commander (station 9) of Malate Police Station in Manila, the armed men were riding in two Toyota Revo vehicles entered at the main gate of St. Scholastica’s College, a catholic private school, which is located in Leon Guinto Street, Malate, Manila.

Quirante said before the two vehicles were able to enter the school the vehicles repeatedly blow its horns prompted for the security guard on duty at the main gate to open the gate and check who are inside the vehicles. “He wants to verify who were inside the vehicle, so he went out of the campus, opened the gate to verify who are inside, but before he can do that, the gun was pointed to him and the vehicles entered inside,” he narrates.

The incident occurred between 1:00 to 1:20 am.

Because of the sounds of horns the residents leaving near the school reported the unusual incident at their area to the police. The police responded immediately and entered the main gate as well.

But when the police entered the school, the armed men escape immediately exiting the gate 4 of the school which is located in Estrada Street. Quirante said the gate four is near Osmena highway and they suspected that the suspects went their.

Quirante said when the police entered the school, the armed men immediately ride to their vehicle. And one of the security guard opened the gate 4 that is why they managed to escape.

Quirante said the motive of the group is probably to robbed the school but he quickly said that no one of the suspects were able to enter the premises of the school building.

While inside, the armed men were able to disarm the three out of seven duty security guards.

Quirante added that there is a CCTV at the main entrance of the school, but the faces of the armed men cannot be seen because they are wearing baseball cap. He also denied reports that the armed men claimed that they are police and wearing camouflaged uniforms, instead they are wearing ordinary civilian clothes and some were also wearing shorts.