The arrested driver of the group of the jailed Rey Torres and Danny Limotan has denied participation in the robberies that the group had allegedly staged since 2003.
Junard Saladaga, 25, was arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Pagadian City at almost 8pm last February 7. He was formally turned over to the CIDG in Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Saladaga, a resident of barangay Laperian in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, was taken to Cebu City based on the arrest warrant for robbery that was issued by Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg. A P200,000 bail bond has been recommended for his temporary liberty.
Saladaga, along with Torres, Limotan and another robbery group leader Doroteo Imperila, was linked to a series of robbery in Cebu since 2003.
They allegedly robbed Aibee Minimart in barangay Mabolo in 2003; the East West Bank-Archbishop Reyes Avenue branch in September 2006, a fish trader couple in barangay Capitol Site, a cooperative, and a Western Union branch, all in October last year.
Saladaga however denied involvement with the group, saying he was never a part of the planning of the robberies and that he has been hired only to drive his motorcycle to take Torres and Limotan to and from some places without him even seeing their actual activities.
“Dili gyud na tinuod ang mga pasangil. Wala man pud ko madakpan sa police kay ako mismo ang miboluntaryo pag-surrender sa police pagkahibalo nako nga nalambigit akong pangalan kay dili ko gusto magtago-tago,” Saladaga said.
He said he was only a habal-habal driver in barangay Magay, Compostela where he lived with his aunt after a vehicular accident in barangay Sapaanding of Ramon Magsaysay town in Zamboanga del Sur.
Saladaga narrated that it was sometime in 2004 when he met Torres, who he knew was from his hometown also. Torres and Limotan had convinced him to serve them as their driver via a “pakyawan” system worth P150.
He agreed, then they went to a flyover in Mandaue City where the two asked him to wait while they went for a personal transaction in the area. Minutes later, the two returned and asked him to drive them to barangay Pakna-an in the same city. He was paid P150 and he went home, he said.
Saladaga said that, days later, Torres and Limotan requested him again to drive them to Jones Avenue (now Osmeña Boulevard) where at a certain intersection, he was asked to standby and wait for them. Shortly after, they returned and told him to take them to a hotel in Mandaue City.
At that time, Saladaga said the two gave him P10,000. “Nakamatikod naman ko nga ila ra kung gigamit sa ilang kalihokan, mao nang milarga dayon ko sa Zamboanga pag-2004. Naa man pud hulga sa akong kinabuhi nilang Torres ug Limotan,” he said.
In 2004, he learned that Torres was arrested and that he was also implicated as a member of the robbery group. In the same year, Torres bolted out but was rearrested in 2005 by authorities in Monte Alegre, Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur. He said he was informed that Limotan was arrested also. — Garry B. Lao/RAE