Two Bohol town mayors have expressed alarm yesterday over reports that an armed robbery was pulled off involving a tourist van loaded with domestic tourists en route to a heart-rending attraction in the municipality of Danao. Mayors Jose Jumamoy, Jr. of Inabanga and Louis Thomas Gonzaga of Danao sounded the alarm bells after the tourist van was waylaid by at least seven armed men in the boundary of the two towns. Reports reaching the Post indicated that the men armed with short and long firearms robbed the passengers of the tourist van with undetermined amount of cash and other personal belongings. The robbery took place in sitio Boho, barangay San Jose, in Inabanga. The barangay shares a common boundary with Danao via the Sagbayan provincial road. According to Mayor Gonzaga, the San Jose getaway is the shortcut entry point to the town's famous EAT Danao tourist attraction from Sagbayan. The tourist site is famous for its zipline rides.

In expressing alarm about its effect to Danao's tourism traffic, Mayor Gonzaga said he coordinated with Mayor Jumamoy and Sagbayan Mayor Ricardo Suarez for a possible cooperation to stop another occurrence of similar crime. Although it may be an isolated incident, Mayor Gonzaga said that it cannot be discounted that it may discourage tourists from visiting Danao for fear that the vehicles they will be riding will be waylaid along the way. The Danao mayor proposed to Mayor Jumamoy along with the mayor of Sagbayan to mount a joint police outpost in the robbery-prone area. It was gathered that the suspects may have operated with impunity in the area including robberies, extortion, among other incidents, because they apparently knew that the barangay captain identified as Ely Socorin may have been looking the other way every time they committed a crime in the place frequented by vans hired by tourists. Increasing tourist traffic in the area makes it vulnerable to crimes like hold-ups.

In the case of the latest heist, it was gathered that the seven men which was also reported to be armed with long firearms flagged the van and announced the hold-up. Of the 19 passengers on board, six of them were divested of cash and other personal belongings. One of the victims was identified as Gemma Pilapil, 55 of barangay Ilijan, Tubigon town who was robbed of P8,000 and a necklace worth P18,000. Another victim was identified as Marissa Congson, 48 of Consolacion, Cebu whose P7,000 was carted away and a cell phone valued at P3,000. Other victims were identified as Elinita Manatad,44 of Consolacion, Cebu, who was robbed of P12,000 cash, a P15,000 watch and cell p[hone worth P5,000; Rona Pilapil, 32 of Ormoc City who was divested of an expensive cell phone valued at P8,000 and bracelet worth P3,000; Angelita Pilapil, 59 of Ormoc City who lost a gold plated watch worth P2,000 and Almaria Labarios, of legal age of Tubigon who lost her wallet with P200.00 in it.

Meanwhile, also on Friday, a delivery truck bound for Talibon was also held up by five unidentified men who were also armed. Loaded with rice, the delivery truck was owned by Talibon Councillor Epifanio Quimson. According to a police report, the delivery truck was speeding towards barangay Magsaysay when flagged down by the armed men and announced the hold-up. The truck ignored the presence of the armed men but one of the suspects shot the fleeing vehicle hitting the truck boy in the process.