Does someone need a hug?
A man went viral online after photos show him 'bear hugging' a pickpocket on Colon Juan Luna St., Barangay Sto. Niño, Cebu City on Tuesday, January 29.
Larry Torrifiel wanted to take his girlfriend to a cinema after their date in a certain fastfood restaurant on Colon Street.
He recalled that by 11 a.m., he saw a teenager pickpocketing two Cebu Normal University students.
"Nagkasugat mi sa duha ka students sa CNU unya nadasmag man tong bata nako. Paglingi nako, gasugod man diay siya sa estudyanye nga wala kabantay gikuotan na diay iyahang bag," Torrifiel said.
("I saw the CNU students before the incident and the kid charged at my direction. When I turned around to look at the kid, the students didn't realize that they were already being pickpocketed.")
The two CNU students were startled when they saw Torrefiel jump on the boy and started to immobilize him by a rear naked choke, a chokehold in martial arts applied in an opponent's back, one of the variations of a rear bear hug.
That's when he revealed to them that their bags were being pickpocketed.
Torrefiel said it took some time before the police arrived and he had to stay in the same position for a couple of minutes.
Torrefiel learned that the boy had two accomplices but it was only the boy that he saw.
When asked where he learned his techniques:
"Tan-aw ra ko sa Youtube," he said. "Tan-aw tan-aw ra inkaso magkinaunsa. Nagamit gyud nako."
(I just watch Youtube videos. I just watch just incase something happened. And what did you know, I ended up using the techniques.)
Netizens praised Torrefiel's heroism online. Some even asking him to join the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
"Katong tig-adtoan og Colon, pagbantay-bantay jud mo kay daghan kaayo mangunguot," he wrote. (JGS)