Taxi driver gets help from Manila’s top cop

A combination of spunk and luck saved a taxi driver from a robber yesterday morning near the Western Police District (WPD) headquarters in Manila.

The wounded victim, Deolito Garbo, and suspect Rolan Dorotan, were in a scuffle when WPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong chanced upon them.

Garbo told The STAR he was lying on the ground with his leg against Dorotan’s chest to keep the latter from punching him when he saw a man alight from a motorbike and told the crowd to break up the fight.

Garbo did not know that the man was Manila’s top cop.

"I just told him that I’m a taxi driver and the other guy was a robber," Garbo said in Filipino.

Garbo’s clothes were soaked in dried blood and the stab wounds on his arms showed fresh stitches.

Bulaong promptly told his escorts to arrest Dorotan and rush Garbo to the hospital for treatment.

It was only at the Ospital ng Maynila that the policemen informed Garbo that the man who helped him was Bulaong.

Garbo, 38, of Antipolo city, and a taxi driver for the last six years, said the suspect hailed his MCEC taxi with licence plate PWR 621 shortly before 6 a.m. along U.N. Avenue and told him to drive to Pandacan.

Dorotan, of Bagong Silang, Caloocan, sat on the passenger seat.

Just after passing the WPD Headquarters, Garbo said he saw from his peripheral view Dorotan drawing out a kitchen knife and lunged at him.

"I parried the knife with my left arm and I was hit. I knew he was aiming for my chest. He kept on stabbing me but I kept on pushing his arms away," Garbo said.

Garbo’s cab swerved the entire time and finally crossed lanes, hitting an electric post right in front of the Pope Pius School and Church at the corner of San Marcelino Street.

Dorotan tried to run away but a brave and spunky Garbo, although bleeding, got out of the taxi, and grabbed the suspect’s shirt to keep him from escaping.

A scuffle beween the two ensued, until Bulaong arrived, not a single one from the crowd of "usiseros" helped him or called the police, whose headquarters was just a stone’s throw away.

Dorotan is now detailed at the WPD-Station 5 on U.N. Avenue and is facing attempted robbery and frustrated homicide charges.