Taxi driver stabbed 27 times

A 55-year-old taxi driver, who refused to let go of his earnings, succumbed to 27 stab wounds inflicted by two still unidentified suspects in a robbery-holdup early yesterday in Caloocan City.

Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton, Station Investigation and Detective Management Bureau (SIDMB) chief, identified the victim as Ruben Cadaingan, driver of THY Taxi (PWK-976), and resident of Nakasamaba Subdivision, Bagumbong, Caloocan.

Cadaingan lost to the robbers his earning for the day amounting to some P1,900.

SPO1 Victor Lalata, officer on case, said the victim was flagged down at around 2:40 a.m. along EDSA by the suspects, who asked to be taken to the University Hills Subdivision just behind the University of the East Caloocan Campus.

Along Caimito Road, the duo demanded at knifepoint Cadaingan’s earnings.

The victim, however, resisted, prompting the suspects to gang up on him, stabbing him repeatedly in different parts of the body. As he slumped on the wheel, the suspects took his cash and fled the scene.

Although bloodied, Cadaingan drove himself out of the crime scene for help. Upon reaching General San Miguel street corner Bisig ng Kabataan in Barangay 1, Sangandaan, Caloocan City, the victim, bathed in blood, got out of the cab and slumped to the pavement.

Bystanders sought the help of PO3 Renato Gonzales and PO2 Sammy Arguelles of PCP 8 who brought the victim to the Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center on Mabini street.

Cadaingan still managed to narrate to the policemen the details of his ordeal. The victim was declared dead at around 5 a.m. while being treated. — Jerry Botial