Taxi driver robs and molests woman

CEBU, Philippines - An unidentified taxi driver robbed and touched the breasts of a female passenger when they reached Barangay Tejero, Cebu City early yesterday morning.

Marites Panaman, 20, a native of Dipolog City, recalled the cab’s body number, but police said the cab operator claimed the particular taxi unit was not running.

PO2 Edwin Tapero of the Waterfront Police Station, based on the police report, said the victim, accompanied by the responding personnel from the Mobile Patrol Group, reported to them about the robbery which happened an hour earlier.

Tapero said the victim arrived at Pier 4 from Dipolog City at about 3:30 a.m. and boarded on a Catz Taxi with body number she could recall as 3453. She was on her way to Guadalajara, Barangay Guadalupe.

When they reached 13th Avenue at the North Reclamation Area in Barangay Tejero, the taxi driver suddenly poked a screw driver at her face and declared a hold-up.

In her fear, she handed over her cellular phone and wallet which contained P1,000.

In a report over radio dySS, the driver allegedly fondled her breast so she fought him off and eventually got off the cab.

After recording the incident in the police blotter, the policeman, who was later identified as PO2 Gerry Genelaso, allegedly told the victim that he would already be off-duty so he could not make a follow-up on the incident.

About two hours later, dySS was able to contact Catz Taxi operator, Home Layson, who said the taxi unit with the same body number could not have possibly been used in the robbery.

“Actually makadagan pa ni siya but ang sitwasyon sa sakyanan kung makadagan init man gyud siya. Way chance magawas kay locked ang gate nya daghan ming iro. Dia mi diri gapuyo,” Layson said. (There was no chance this unit could have been used. It was inside our gate all the time, which was locked.)

Layson said he called the Waterfront Police to check the unit as early as possible.

“Magpauban ko sa LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) to prove na kaning unit nato diri ra gyud sa atoa. Maka-prove ko na diri ra gyud ni. Mingtawag ko sa police, unta makaari sila mintras sayo pa,” he said, adding that he has four drivers who are his relatives.

Chief Insp. Andres Bayarcal, chief of the Waterfront Police Station who identified PO2 Genelaso, said the latter relayed the report to the incoming miscellaneous team at 8 a.m.

Bayarcal said his men could not contact the LTFRB or the Land Transportation at dawn so they waited for the morning.

His men spotted the vehicle with the said body number at the garage of Layson.

“But naa’y conflict, naa’y discrepancy kay ang tag-iya maka-attest man nga diha ra gyud nang iyang taxi since the other day pa kay naa’y guba,” Bayarcal said.

Tapero, in a separate interview, said the victim could have been nervous and failed to take note of the correct body number.

Bayarcal and Tapero told The FREEMAN that they will be lining-up Layson’s taxi drivers. They are trying to locate the victim, who did not leave any contact number, to see if she could point to any of them as the culprit. — (FREEMAN)