Toriano de Guzman sees an axe used on five hog-tied guards.
1. LAGIM: A Filipino True Crime covers the RCA heist and axe slaughter in Paco, Manila, beginning with the Rice and Corn Administration in 1963.
2. The host, Maying Adlao, explains why the case matters because it was later treated as a heist and a multiple killing, not just a robbery.
3. The episode asks what happened when four RCA-connected men planned to steal cash from the RCA vault and then faced a separate murder case.
4. Apolonio Adriano, Mario Sandiego, Mariano Domingo, and Leonardo Bernardo met on August 20, 1963, at Sandiego’s home in Sao Paulo, Manila.
5. The plan targeted about 500,000 pesos stored at the RCA office in Paco, Manila, and relied on inside knowledge from former and current employees.
6. Adriano and Sandiego had been RCA security guards, Domingo was working at RCA, and Bernardo drove for the former chief of security while still serving as a guard in Polo, Bulacan.
7. The group prepared a false disposition form, recruited additional men, and arranged three vehicles: two jeepneys and a Buick convertible.
8. The robbers also planned to use an acetylene torch and oxygen tank, but the torch plan did not work as intended.
9. On August 25, 1963, they regrouped at the Luzon Bus Line terminal canteen and later moved the equipment from Zampaloc to United Nations Avenue.
10. By midnight, Team Jeep One, Team Jeep Two, and Team Buick were positioned for the entry to the RCA compound.
11. Francisco Timbol accepted the inspection story at the gate, and Apolonio Adriano and Mariano Domingo quickly disarmed him and other guards.
12. The guards were handcuffed, locked inside the RCA office, and tied with ropes taken from a flagpole.
13. Adriano then broke into the cash division, and the group opened the vault after drilling and hammering through the layers of protection.
14. The court record says the RCA safe contained 332,248 pesos and 27 centavos at about 10:30 p.m. on August 25, 1963.
15. The money was packed into leather bags, boxes, jute sacks, and even a Volkswagen owned by Bernardo’s brother.
16. Toriano de Guzman later said he woke to a loud noise, looked through an ajar door, and saw a man striking five hog-tied colleagues with an axe.
17. The Supreme Court record also cites Gregorio Liwag, who said he saw Adriano on the balcony holding an axe and telling him to wait.
18. The court quoted Adriano’s own statement about Domingo’s concern that guards recognized him, which helped frame the killing as part of the robbery conspiracy.
19. The episode’s tone is forensic and documentary, with long chronological explanations and repeated references to the Supreme Court decision from 1980.
20. Anyone interested in Philippine true crime, court records, and old Manila history would likely follow this closely, while listeners wanting a short, light recap may skip it.
