Taiwanese tourist killed in PUJ holdup

A Taiwanese tourist was shot dead even after he tried to flee from robbers by jumping off a passenger jeepney in Malate, Manila early yesterday.

Wen Hua Yang, 33, and his compatriot Shangchi Chang, 23, were in a jeepney when three men posing as passengers threatened them with a gun and a knife, Senior Police Officer 1 Benito Cabatbat said.

After the robbers took Yang’s wristwatch and Chang’s bracelet, the two Taiwanese men jumped from the moving vehicle along M.H. del Pilar street near Sinagoga street in Malate.

One of the robbers shot Yang, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, Cabatbat said. Chang, who is studying in Manila, was unhurt, and the assailants escaped.

The two had just bought hamburgers and were on their way home in the tourist district at around 4:45 a.m. when the incident took place. They hailed a passenger jeepney bound for Baclaran.

As the jeepney made its way through the streets of Malate, three robbers announced the heist. One of them was armed with a handgun while the two others were armed with knives.

One of the robbers divested the victims of their belongings.

Apparently not contended, the robbers demanded the victims give their wallets. At this point the foreigners jumped off the jeepney.

One of the robbers immediately fired a shot at Yang.

The Western Police District is now coordinating with the Taiwan Embassy for the return of the victim’s body to Taiwan.

Police investigators said a series of similar jeepney robberies had taken place hours earlier in the same area.

WPD director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong promised to deploy more undercover policemen to the city’s tourist belt area.

Meanwhile, a policeman was shot and repeatedly stabbed by the bus robber he tried to fight off Wednesday night in Makati City.

Victim Senior Police Officer 3 Hyacinth Ocfemia, 44, assigned at the Parañaque Police Community Precinct 4, sustained eight stab wounds in different parts of the body and a gunshot wound in the leg.

He was rushed to the Victoriano R. Potenciano Polymedic Medical Center on EDSA for treatment.

Case investigator, Police Officer 2 Rudy Tallud of the Makati police Theft and Robbery Section, said the incident happened at around 9:30 p.m. on the northbound lane of EDSA, in front of Orense street, Barangay Guadalupe Viejo.

The unidentified suspect sat beside Ocfemia while they were on board a Pascual Liner bus (MYB-502), poked a knife at him, and ordered him to hand over his valuables.

But Tallud said the policeman must have "panicked" and failed to calculate his moves when he resisted the robber.

While Ocfemia managed to shoot the robber once, the latter was able to wrest the policeman’s .9mm service firearm and fire back.

The robber escaped with an undetermined amount of cash.

Meanwhile, a bus robber was caught and mauled by bystanders after his victim chased him also on Wednesday night.

The suspect was identified as Allan "Joey" Bechayda, 35, of Reparo street, Morning Breeze, Caloocan.

His three cohorts escaped.

Bechayda’s group, armed with a caliber .38 revolver and fan knives, reportedly held up passengers of a northbound bus on EDSA near Estrella street at around 8:15 p.m.

The group took the victims cellular phones, cash, and valuables.

When the robbers alighted on Guadalupe, one of the passengers, Stephen Garcia, 31, of Kalayaan Avenue, Barangay Cembo, Makati chased them.

On the Guadalupe overpass, Garcia began shouting for help, alerting bystanders who caught Bechayda and beat him up.

Bechayda was arrested by responding policemen from Makati’s PCP 9 after he was left behind by his cohorts. – With Nikko Dizon, AP