Are Sta. Mesa policemen helpless against robbers preying on commuters?

Are the men and officers of the Sta. Mesa police station under Superintendent Napoleon Pascua really doing all they can to stop the jeepney robberies happening in their area of responsibility?

There have been reports that robbers, particularly those with eyes for expensive cellular phones have "relocated" their operations along the Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard in Sta. Mesa from Manila’s University Belt.

This writer himself proved the reports to be true when he was held-up last Thursday night aboard a Divisoria-bound jeepney from Cubao, Quezon City.

This writer was seated in the front passenger seat of the jeepney when the vehicle stopped at the corner of Santol street and Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard for a red light at about 11:45 p.m.

Then suddenly a man wearing a baseball cap grabbed this writer’s neck from behind and poked an icepick at his neck. The robber then took his Nokia 6150 cellular phone and wristwatch. All along, the driver and the other passengers merely watched.

Seconds later, the robber jumped off the jeepney and ran towards the dimly-lit Santos street near the now-closed Discovery club.

This writer then proceeded to the nearby Sta. Mesa police station (Western Police District-Station 8) to report the incident and ask for immediate police assistance.

But to the chagrin of this writer, the night desk officer, whom this writer failed to identify, simply jotted down the incident and advised that the matter be reported to the Balic-Balic police station (WPD-Station 4) as the area where the robber ran to was under that station’s jurisdiction.

Another plainclothes officer echoed the instruction, adding that the incident area is under the jurisdiction of the Central Police District.

"If we pursue the robber now, we might run the risk of getting involved in a misencounter with the CPD," the policeman said.

Exasperated by the apparent lack of concern shown by the policemen on duty, this writer went to WPD-Station 4 just to get the needed police report.

This writer later learned that there have been many other robberies in the area.

The areas where the robberies took place all occurred within the jurisdiction of WPD police Station 8.

A reporter from another paper also lost his Nokia 3310 to pickpockets in Bacood, Sta. Mesa late last month.

This writer has been trying to reach Pascua since the incident. Yesterday afternoon, this writer again tried to reach him but was again told by his men that he was out of his office.