Cabbie abandons hurt passenger after mishap

Early yesterday morning, a taxi hit the center island of Ayala Avenue in Makati City, injuring the driver and his 22-year-old passenger, who suffered a broken right arm.

No one would have known about the incident if not for the efforts of Police Officer 3 Mardy Solis Domingo of the Station Traffic Enforcement Branch (STEB) who was able to locate the vehicle involved hours after the suspect fled the scene of the accident.

Though police have yet to arrest the suspect, the owner of the taxicab has agreed to shoulder the victim’s hospital expenses.

BLL taxi owner Brian Lim, through his secretary Laarni Paradero Rey, said they would not have known about the real details of the incident if not for Domingo’s efforts.

Information gathered by The STAR said the incident happened at around 2:30 a.m. along Ayala Avenue in front of Informatics Computer School.

The victim, Joan Orlanda Cabalquinto, said she boarded a BLL taxi (TYP-753) driven by one Artemio Pable somewhere in Mandaluyong.

While cruising along Ayala Avenue, she said she noticed the suspect falling asleep. She shouted when she realized their vehicle was about to slam into the center island.

The suspect promised to follow Cabalquinto when another taxi driver offered to bring her to the Makati Medical Center.

Domingo said a hospital security guard alerted him about a woman who was brought in, apparently a victim of a vehicular accident.

When he interviewed the victim, Domingo said he was told that Cabalquinto did not remember the license plate of the taxicab she was riding but remembers the marking “BLL” on it.

Domingo said he decided to make use of the little information he had to look for the suspect and the vehicle by asking around and visiting the scene of the accident.

He even patrolled the immediate area after being told that the damaged vehicle he was looking for left Ayala Avenue until he saw taxicabs with BLL markings along N. Garcia street.

It was there that Domingo was able to determine the identity of the suspect and locate the damaged vehicle with the help of other BLL employees who also took his name and the name of the injured passenger.

More than three hours after the mishap, BLL representatives called up Domingo and expressed their desire to help the victim, saying “we did not know that a passenger was hurt because (Mr. Pable) did not tell us so, until you (Domingo) came to our garage and gave us this piece of paper,” referring to the police officer’s notes.

STEB head Chief Inspector Jimmy Santos said he has nothing but praise for Domingo’s efforts to solve the case.

Santos said the cab company promised to surrender Pable if he reports for work. Pable will face reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injury and damage to property charges.