When cabbies become robbers

Taxi drivers used to be among the favorite victims of holdup men.

But in two separate incidents in Cebu City and Laguna this week, two taxi drivers decided to switch roles and become holdup men themselves.

Worse, one victim, a septuagenarian, was stabbed dead, and the other, shot and wounded.

Last Wednesday night, a cabbie-turned-robber chose for his victim a 31-year-old Cebu City Hall employee who resisted and whom he ended up shooting.

The driver remains at large and unidentified, the only details about him, provided by the victim, being that he drove a red Toyota Corolla with license plate GWF 123.

The man he shot, Ronald Galon, works as an engineering assistant at the city engineering department.

Upon reaching Sitio Lomboy, the driver suddenly drew a gun and announced a holdup. Galon, who had P10,000 in his pocket, decided he was not going to give up his money and fought back.

While grappling for the gun, the weapon went off and the bullet hit Galon. Though wounded, he managed to flee and sought help from bystanders.

The taxi driver did not give chase but instead sped away.

The second holdup left 76-year-old Augusto Sallvio dead with multiple stab wounds and his granddaughter Jhonanafe, 26, wounded with three knife wounds.

The Sallvios, according to Superintendent Efren Ramos, police chief of Sta. Rosa, Laguna, took a cab to meet a relative at the airport at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Along the way, Ramos said, the driver fetched a female friend with the consent of the Sallvios. The old man and his apo fell asleep, waking up in Baclaran where the driver announced the holdup.

The Sallvios were brought to Sta. Rosa town after they refused to give more money. They were dumped in Barangay Dita, and there stabbed repeatedly. A passerby took them to the hospital, but the old man died along the way. — Freeman News Service, Rene Alviar