Cabbie robbed by men claiming to be ‘NPAs’
Three men who claimed to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA) robbed a taxi driver at past midnight yesterday in Mandurriao District, Iloilo City.
The victim, Renato Tolentino, 63, of Magsaysay St., City Proper, Iloilo City, said the robbers took his earnings of more than P1,200 and his wallet containing P200, but did not hurt him.
They also gave back his driver’s license.
Tolentino, who was driving a GDR Taxi with plate number FWT, said it was around 1 a.m. when a man boarded his vehicle outside the Western Visayas Medical Center, and told him to bring him to Tanza in City Proper.
The passenger then said he needs to fetch his two companions nearby and instructed Tolentino to do proceed towards a school near the hospital.
When the two boarded the cab, they asked the driver to proceed to Escarilla Subdivision where they declared a hold-up.
One of the men poked a knife at Tolentino while other just covered his face with a baseball cap.
Though he was afraid, Tolentino said he still managed to tell the assailants that he would not resist the robbery.
“They said they were NPA. Then they told me not to fight them if I don’t want to get hurt,” he said.
The robbers left on foot. Members of Mandurriao Police Station, together with some taxi drivers of the GDR fleet, conducted a hot pursuit operation inside the Escarilla Subdivision and the nearby areas but failed to find the robbers.
