POLICE say they have determined that the three persons they were seeking is no longer considered "persons of interest" in the shooting death of Grab driver Gerardo Maquidato Jr.
Superintendent Gene Licud, Pasay City police deputy chief for operations, said the three people who work as air-conditioning technicians personally went to their office to clear their names.
He said the three people were the last known passengers of Maquidato based on the Grab system record before the driver was killed by suspects pretending to be legitimate passengers in Pasay City on October 26.
He said it appeared in a surveillance video that the group stepped out of Maquidato's Toyota Innova vehicle.
"Sa ngayon po, masasabi natin na negative sila sa insidente," Licud said. [For now, we can say that they are negative for the incident.]
Licud said there are several other persons of interest in the case of Maquidato.
Licud meanwhile urged the public to report to police any sightings of Maquidato gray Toyota Innova with conduction sticker YV7109.
Maquidato was shot in the head allegedly by a lone assailant on Thursday in Barangay 189, Don Carlos Village in Pasay City. The suspect took his vehicle and his personal belongings.
Maquidato was awarded by Grab as one of the "best drivers" after he gave a courtesy ride to a sick passenger.
The Grab management also promised to give P100,000 to whoever will give information, which will result in the arrest of Maquidato's assailants.
Meanwhile, as a measure to prevent the incident from happening again, Grab has allowed its partner-drivers ask passengers to show their identification cards before starting the trip to check if the information he registered with the Grab application is accurate.
"Before starting the trip, our driver-partners may ask you to show a personal identification card (ID) to verify your identity, especially during night shift hours. We assure you that all information shown to our driver-partners will be kept confidential and will only be used for verification purposes," Grab said in a letter issued October 30.
Grab also urged passengers to set the correct pick-up and drop-off before they book a ride as partner-drivers will "only bring you to the indicated booking destinations." (SunStar Philippines)