Cop shot in bus holdup

Camp Vicente Lim, Laguna – A Batangas police was shot by one of the five suspected armed men who robbed passengers of a public utility bus along the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) yesterday.

Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, Region 4 police director, identified the victim as PO2 Leonido Santiago, assigned at the Malvar town police station.

Santiago sustained a single gunshot wound in the left side of the body and is now undergoing treatment at the Makati Medical Center.

Initial investigations revealed that the five suspects boarded the Alps Bus successively and separately at the vicinity of Tanauan City in Batangas. The bus was en route to Lawton area in Manila from Batangas City.

Police said that upon reaching the Sta. Rosa stretch of the South Luzon Expressway, the suspects declared a holdup and started collecting the passengers’ wallets, cellphones and other personal belongings.

PO2 Santiago, who was seated in the middle of the bus, tried to grab the firearm of one of the suspects but was shot by his companion who was seated behind him.