Manila traffic cops, towing crew accused of robbery

A 40-year-old housewife has charged two Manila traffic policemen and two civilian employees of the Western Traffic District Office with robbery after she allegedly lost P15,000 in cash when her vehicle was towed into the compound of the Traffic bureau in Port Area, Manila last week.

Josephine Cruz, of 780 Endaya st., Tondo, Manila, filed the complaints at the City Hall’s "Tanggapang Masa" of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, the General Assignment Section of the Western Police District, the Complaints Action Center in Camp Crame and the People’s Law Enforcement Board.

Named respondents in the complaint were Senior Police Officers 2 Arnel Pabines and Dionisio Sagun and civilian employees Roberto Rosal and Arnel Sacristan.

According to Cruz, at about 1 p.m. last Nov. 12 she parked her Isuzu pick-up vehicle (TSA-848) at a vacant lot near the Sakya School in Masangkay street in Tondo to fetch her child.

However, when she came back she was informed by a security guard that her vehicle had been towed by uniformed policemen.

She later found her vehicle in the impounding area of the traffic bureau in Port Area, Manila. Inspecting her vehicle, she found that her vehicle had been forcibly opened and the P15,000 in her bag left inside the locked vehicle was missing.

She alleged that Rosal, who is in charge of receiving impounded vehicles, challenged her husband, Jose Lauro, a professor of the Far Eastern University, to a fist fight when they inquired about the missing money.

They also learned that Pabines and Sagun were the policemen in charge of her vehicle, while Sacristan was the driver of the tow vehicle.

During confrontation, the four suspects denied opening her vehicle and taking anything inside. However, possibly to appease her, traffic personnel released her vehicle without her paying the penalty. – Nestor Etolle