Armed men rob priest

Police are now hunting at least five unidentified armed men after they robbed a priest inside a van and shot his driver the other day in front of a television station on Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.

Rev. Ferdinand Hernando, 35, of the Ezekiel Moreno Novitiate-Recoletos in Antipolo City, said that the robbers carted away at least P150,000 in cash and shot the seminary’s stay-in driver Jose Nonan, 40, in the leg.

The police said Hernando was robbed a few minutes after he withdrew money from the BPI Visayas Avenue branch, supposedly for use in their seminary in Antipolo.

The five gunmen, each on board a motorcycle, fled with the cash. Operatives of the Central Police District are now conducting follow-up operations to determine their identities and whereabouts.

Hernando and Nonan, were on board their Mitsubishi L-300 van and had just left the bank at about 1:55 p.m. on their way back to the seminary. As they approached NBN Channel 4, traffic was piling up.

Their vehicle was caught in traffic when the five men riding on motorcycles surrounded the priest’s service van. They violently tapped on the van’s window and demanded that Hernando open the door.

The priest complied and the gunmen forcibly took the cash from Hernando. To make sure that they wouldn’t be followed, one of the robbers shot Nonan in the left leg. The armed men immediately fled thereafter. – Matthew Estabillo