Travel agency employee stabbed dead by robbers

A 21-year-old messenger of a travel agency was killed after he was stabbed by two robbers in Remedios, Manila, the other night.

Reports reaching the Western Police District identified the victim as Ronnie Noche, employed with the Sagye Travel Agency in Ermita, Manila.

According to reports, Noche was waiting for a jeepney at the corner of Taft Avenue and Remedios street at about 7:45 p.m. when he was approached by two men.

Police said Noche, who was clutching an envelope and his Nokia 3210 cellphone, when two unidentified men "sandwiched" him.

One of the men suddenly whipped-out a knife, pocked it at the victim’s side and demanded for his cellphone.

However, instead of handing over his cellphone, Noche, police said, decided to fight the robbers and engaged them in a fistfight.

But the scuffle shortly ended after the victim was stabbed once in the neck by the suspects. The robbers then grabbed Noche’s cellphone and ran towards Remedios street.

Bystanders rushed Noche to the nearby Philippine General Hospital but died along the way.

Earlier, Western Police District director Chief Superintendent Nicolas Pasinos vowed to go after robbers in the streets of Manila, who often prey on commuters and students for their cash and cellular phones.

However, Manila residents have observed that robbers still continue to operate freely particularly in Sta. Mesa, Quiapo and the University Belt area. Robbers, usually armed with knives and operating in groups of threes or fours, would approach their victims and then fleece them of their cash and cellphones.

Some of these robberies happen in areas where commuters gather and in some instances, happen right under the very noses of policemen.

Pasinos earlier bared a plan to deploy undercover policemen in the streets and aboard passenger jeepneys and FX vans to thwart these robbers. However, the plan, as of yet, has miserably failed to produce results.