"Robbers" hogtie, gag victim in Compostela

CEBU, Philippines - Suspected robbers hogtied, gagged and made an 18-year-old boy smell a substance that made him faint before taking his cash and valuables in Barangay Estaca, Compostela town last Tuesday night.

 Police said Roy Mendrano, a resident of Barangay Matab-ang, Toledo City, came from the house of her aunt in San Remigio town and was supposed to go home to Toledo City when he decided to meet the girl who had found the mobile phone of his aunt in Compostela.

 Mendrano narrated his ordeal to The FREEMAN, saying the incident started when he met a girl who identified herself as Liezel, about 16 years old, to get his aunt’s phone, which she accidentally left in a passenger jeepney last week.

 The victim said he boarded a bus from the house of his aunt in San Remigio to go home to Toledo City but he later decided to drop by in Compostela after the girl who found his aunt’s phone agreed to return the unit in exchange for P300. They agreed to meet at 7 p.m. in Barangay Estaca.

 Mendrano indeed met the girl and has succeeded in getting the phone. But after he bade goodbye to the girl and while walking away to proceed with his trip to Toledo City, two armed men, about his age, blocked his way and pointed a gun at him.

 The suspects allegedly helped one another in tying his hands with his belt, and his feet with his own clothes in a forested area. They also covered his mouth using his own jacket to prevent him from shouting for help.

 “’Nya naa sila’y gipasimhot nako nga humot kaayo. Nakasimhot ko kay nag-hangos-hangos na baya ko ato sa ako pagsukol nila. ‘Nya wa dangti pila ka-segundos, nanglain akong panan-aw hantod napawng g’yud,” Mendrano said.

 He woke up the following morning dripping wet as it rained that night. He then discovered that his backpack containing P1,600 cash and the cellualr phones he and his aunt owned, amounting to almost P4,000, were already missing.

 Mendrano said he was able to free himself around 6 p.m. of Wednesday when the ties loosened. Feeling very weak, he continued to sleep and was lucky when a boy, who was looking for something in the woods, found him.

 The victim was awakened by a barangay tanod who took him to the police station of the town.

 The victim, who had the incident reported in a police blotter, said he can identify the perpetrators when he sees them again.

Mendrano also believes that Liezel was an accomplice of the suspects, who already planned the crime before he and the girl met. (THE FREEMAN)