Cabbie charged for robbing Chinese woman

MANILA, Philippines - The Caloocan City police filed charges yesterday against a taxi driver and his companion for allegedly robbing a Chinese woman and dumping her along C-3 Road on Jan. 4.

Ponciano Libunao, 42; and Ron Jovi Turla, 21, were arrested in Makati City after Elaine Quiambao managed to jump out of the Gaudencio de Guzman taxi and ask for help last Jan. 13. Turla, who had been hiding in the front passenger seat, stabbed the passenger twice before she got out.

Zhao Leng Huz identified Libunao and Turla, from photos taken by Caloocan police officers who visited the two men in the Makati jail, as the men who robbed her, according to Caloocan police chief Senior Superintendent Bartolome Bustamante.

She told police she got into the taxi from a mall in Pasay City. The driver stopped at an intersection and Turla joined her in the back seat.

She said she jumped from the taxi along C-3 Road when the two men stabbed her after robbing her of valuables worth P70,000. Bystanders took her to the Caloocan Medical Center.