Cops nab bus driver, conductor

A bus driver and his conductor were arrested yesterday after evidence established their links with three men who robbed their passengers of personal belongings during a two-hour heist in Malabon.

Metro police chief Director Ricardo de Leon said the role of suspects Raul Aplaca, 33, and Rodel Are, 23, would be investigated to determine if they are members of the Bulig robbery group tagged in the rash of bus robberies in the northern part of the metropolis, especially those involving JMK bus lines.

"While we are busy ensuring the peaceful and orderly conduct of the coming May elections in Metro Manila, we are also intensifying our anti-crime operations," said De Leon during the presentation of Aplaca and Are at the satellite office of the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO) in Kamuning, Quezon City.

Aplaca was driving a JMK passenger bus (TWR 315) with body number 5252 along Samson Road in Caloocan City when three suspects armed with knives and handguns announced the heist at 12:15 a.m. yesterday.

At first, the suspects grabbed the cellular phones of at least 15 bus passengers and ordered Aplaca to stop the bus in front of the Francis Market along M.H. del Pilar, in Tinajeros.

However, the suspects changed their minds, went back inside the bus and divested passengers of their cash, jewelry and personal belongings.

The robbers did not take cash from the conductor, who had some P9,000 in earnings.They they alighted in Santolan, Malabon.

De Leon said Aplaca drove at a snail-pace during the robbery and failed to stop at a number of police outposts the bus had passed.

Senior Superintendent Freddie Panen, Malabon police chief, said the handbag of a passenger, Iluminada Valdez, 46, was later found in the possession of Are. Valdez’ cell phone was found in a tool box near the driver’s seat.

Aplaca and Are, at first denied their links with the Bulig robbery group.

But Are later broke down and pointed to Aplaca as the one who had a contact in the robbery group. Aplaca identified the three suspects through the pictures shown him by Panen.

De Leon ordered Panen to conduct a massive manhunt against the three suspects, whom he refused to identify pending their arrests.