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Sunday, June 19, 2005
Snatching, hold-ups alarm city cops
By Syril G. Repe, Adrian Sedillo, and Hermie G. Tresquio
THE Philippine National Police (PNP) in Dumaguete City admitted it is alarmed by the series of hold-ups and snatchings happening.
Chief Inspector Manuel Hidalgo, Dumaguete City police chief, said he has ordered his men to run after the "bad elements" preying on people even as a female law student of Foundation University (FU) from Bindoy, a teacher from Jimalalud, and a couple in Barangay Banilad became the latest victims of the motorcycle bandits prowling the streets of Dumaguete City and held-up the same day on Wednesday.
Hidalgo identified the hold-uppers and snatchers as former members of the criminal gangs Death Row, Diablo, and Parke Boys.
Hidalgo said seven have so far been arrested for stealing motorcycles and hold-up and four are being hunted.
He reiterated his call to the public to cooperate with police to arrest the criminals.
Meanwhile Attorney Dominador Cimafranca, head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Negros Oriental, proposed the creation of an anti-crime prevention scheme.
Cimafranca said the scheme would ensure that the movements of criminals would be continuously monitored.
The scheme includes erecting checkpoints in major roads, strictly regulating motorcycle rental operation, and intensifying the traffic laws against unregistered and plateless motorcycles and the campaign against illegal firearms.
The NBI chief said the scheme must involve the support of all law enforcement agencies and barangay officials.
Meantime, snatchings and hold ups continue to hit Dumaguete City with four victimized on the same day.
One of the most victims was Reza Jean Ejercito, 22, single, a third year FU law student from Barangay Tinaogan, Bindoy.
Ejercito said she and her boyfriend Matthew Raymundo were on board a motorcycle heading north at around 10:20 Wednesday evening when a Honda Dream motorcycle with two young riders sidled closer as they reached the junction of Rovira Road and the National Highway in Barangay Bantayan.
The backrider suddenly grabbed her bag after which the bandits sped away.
The bag contained a Nokia 3310 cell phone, her school identification card, a credit card, and P60.
Hours before that, around four o'clock that morning, Marivic Narvasa, 37, single, a teacher from Jimalalud was walking along Hibbard avenue when on reaching the front gate of Silliman University, three unidentified men on board a motorcycle stopped in front of her then the backrider ordered at gunpoint to hand over her bag.
Narvasa refused but gave up when the bandit fired on air. After getting the bag, the riders left.
The victim's bag contained a Nokia cell phone 3210, ATM card with P1,000, ID cards, and other documents.
The bag was later found discarded and empty by a barangay police at the new Bagacay cemetery some four kilometers away from the crime scene.
Some fifteen minutes later, at around 4:15 that same morning, three unidentified men on board a motorcycle held up a couple along the National Highway in Barangay Banilad.
The victims Roger Zerna, 29, and Annabel Zerna, 25, said they were waiting for a tricycle ride to the city center when the bandits stopped in front of them, the backrider brandishing a pistol, then declared a hold-up.
The couple was forced to turn over their bag that contained a wallet with P120 inside.
The next day, a 22-year-old woman from Sibulan lost her bag to a snatcher in front of Slot Shop along Silliman Avenue.
The victim, Marian Zerna said she was walking on her way to Real St. 9 p.m. Thursday to wait for a ride to Sibulan when an unidentified man approached and grabbed her shoulder bag then ran.
The bag contained a Nokia 3310 cell phone and valuable papers.
Six held-up earlier
Before the Thursday and Wednesday incidents, six other people were held up by motorcycle bandits in separate hold-up and snatchings in the city the previous week.
In the first incident victims Lira Cadebedo, 18, single of Barangay Daro, Fhebie Zapanta, 19, single, and Mellicris Calapate, 18, single both from San Carlos City were waiting for a bus ride in the waiting shed near Brix Tailoring in Daro at around eight o'clock the previous week when two motorcycles with four unidentified riders parked near them.
Three of the riders disembarked and approached them. Two casually asked the girls where they were going, then the third pulled out and pointed a gun on them demanding the three girls hand over their bags and cell phone.
When the girls refused, the bandits forcibly wrested the bag then they retreated fast to their motorcycles and left.
The bag carried a wallet containing money, identification cards, and an Ericson T230 cell phone.
A day after, six o'clock Friday morning, motorcycle bandits held up a 28-year-old man in front of Gimmick Resto Bar in Daro.
The victim, Arnulfo Bosmeon of Daro, single, was divested of his gold necklace and Nokia 315 cell phone.
Busmeon said he was walking when a motorcycle with three unidentified riders stopped beside him then the backrider snatched his gold necklace.
The victim tried to fight back but withdrew after one of the hold-uppers pointed a gun at him.
Less than a week before in Barangay Motong, two unidentified men held up a 39-year-old woman from lower Camanjac who was cycling home 1:30 in the morning, and still not satisfied kicked her bicycle, leaving the victim sprawled and bruised on the roadside.
The victim Mary Eleanor Batomalaque said the motorcycle with the two riders appeared suddenly then the man on the back pointed a gun and grabbed her bag.
After getting the bag, he kicked the bicycle then both sped away leaving their victim sprawled on the ground.
Batomalaque cried for help when she saw two passers-by, but they ignored the woman when they saw the armed men.
The victim lost her Nokia 6101 cell phone, a wallet, a gold bracelet and ring, and a pawnshop receipt.
In a related incident, two other unidentified motor bandits held up a bill collector of a local radio station along Cangmating Beach in Sibulan Town one o'clock in the morning last week.
The victim, Edward Panceras, of Maslog, Sibulan, 37, married, said he and a friend were relaxing at the beach when the bandits appeared and one pointed a gun on his face and demanded to hand over his Nokia cell phone 3310, a wristwatch, and his wallet that contained his SSS and company identification cards.
(June 19, 2005 issue)
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