Cabbie admits abandoning hit-and-run victim

MANILA, Philippines - Taxi driver Monrey Montenegro said he was scared when he left an elderly man he allegedly hit on the road to die last week.

Investigators, however, believe Montenegro wanted to mislead authorities into believing Romulo Oliveros did not die from a traffic accident.

“Maybe he (Montenegro) thought we would think the victim died of something else,” said Inspector Elmer Monsalve, head of the homicide investigation section of the Quezon City Police District.

Monsalve said Oliveros sustained injuries in the left shoulder, head and hip.

The body of Oliveros, 66, then still unidentified, was found inside the cab in front of the Quezon City General Hospital on Jan. 3.

Policemen traced the ownership of the Mama taxi (TWS-729) and eventually they found the identity of its driver. The eventually arrested Montenegro at his house in Caloocan on Sunday.

The traffic accident allegedly happened at around 10 p.m. along Commonwealth Avenue. The victim’s body inside the abandoned cab – which had a smashed windshield and dents on the hood – was discovered by a hospital guard at around the same time.

Monsalve said Montenegro had undergone inquest proceedings for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and abandonment of one’s victim. The fiscal recommended the filing of charges against the taxi driver in court.