John O loses van to thieves

Administration Sen. John Osmeña lost to thieves last Monday his white Toyota Land Cruiser that was parked in a vacant lot near the Shangri-La EDSA Plaza Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

The theft of Osmeña’s car came a day after four unidentified robbers shot dead a woman passenger of a bus and a motorcycle cop of the Central Police District (CPD) was shot at the busy intersection of EDSA and Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong. The policeman survived.

The series of crimes happened despite the "police visibility" campaign waged by Director Edgar Aglipay, Metro Manila police commander, to deter criminals from pulling off their capers on busy streets.

Police Officer 2 Loreto Lazano said Osmeña’s driver, Eduardo Batian, dropped him off at the hotel at around 9:45 the other night.

The hotel is adjacent to the Shangri-La shopping mall where high school student Marie Hilario escaped a kidnap try last Jan. 5.

Milen Trechler, the hotel’s director of communication, said Osmeña was to attend a meeting with a number of officials from the Department of Energy (DOE) right after the Luzon-wide power outage. After Osmeña stepped out of the car, Batian proceeded to the parking area but found it full. He then drove the van, with license plates WWW-717, to a nearby vacant lot and parked it there.

Lazano said Batian went out of the van to look for a shaded area to rest. Unfortunately, he fell asleep and did not notice who stole the senator’s vehicle.

The theft was noticed after Batian was roused from his sleep. He immediately reported the incident to the police who sent out a flash alarm but failed to recover it.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, four men armed with short firearms held up a CIGN Transport bus and divested its passengers of cash and jewelry. Before fleeing, the robbers shot dead an unidentified woman passenger who refused to hand over her handbag.

Five minutes later, SPO4 Carlos Tan of the CPD traffic enforcement group was on board his motorcycle when shot from behind by an unidentified gunman. Tan sustained a gunshot wound in the head and was still fighting for his life at the Medical City Hospital yesterday. – Non Alquitran