LINGAYEN — Gov. Victor Agbayani has expressed alarm over the resurgence of robbery-holdup cases that had victimized a number of people withdrawing their money from banks.

Agbayani instructed Provincial Administrator Virgilio Solis to call Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima to a meeting so that they can devise an effective action plan against holdup men in motorcycles preying on those who just withdrew large amount of money from banks.

The governor’s move was spurred by recent reports that in a span of one and a half week, there were four robbery-hold up cases that happened in Pangasinan, the latest of which last Thursday was in Alaminos City where armed men took one million pesos cash.

The other incidents happened in Villasis, Urdaneta City and Rosales.

Previous to these, a retired U.S. Marine was killed when he fought robbers who held him up and his sister in barangay Tandoc, San Carlos City while they were aboard a tricycle while a woman was wounded in the leg when she fought back holdup men who tried to grab her bag containing the money she just withdrew from Metro Bank in Dagupan City.

Provincial Administrator Solis said the victims in the robbery-hold up in Alaminos were his relatives who withdrew money from the Philippine National Bank then took their lunch at the Maxine by the Sea Restaurant in Lucap, near the Hundred Islands National Park.

On their way back home to the city proper of Alaminos, en route home to Bolinao aboard a Ford Explorer, three men riding tandem on a motorcycle stopped them by pointing their handguns at them.

The driver of the car, Napoleon Calsa, 42, an engineer, was injured when one of the armed men banged the window of the vehicle with his Cal. 45 pistol when he refused to open it.

Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza believed that the holdup men were not from his city because they committed the armed robbery without any crash helmet or mask on their faces.

Two of the holdup men later boarded their backup Crosswind van while the other one sped away aboard the motorcycle.

Agbayani said it appears that the holdup men have employed similar modus operandi so it is possible that those behind all these robbery-holdups belong to one and the same gang.

He said all the victims had just came from banks from where they withdrew large sums of money, suspecting the possible roles of tipsters in these illegal activities.