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[av_heading heading=’3 men steal, abandon van in Oton brgy’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Friday, June 16, 2017
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ILOILO City – A driver of a passenger van escaped from three men who shanghaied his vehicle in Barangay San Antonio, Oton, Iloilo yesterday morning.
Around an hour after, policemen recovered the van in Sitio Sook, Barangay Rizal, Oton.
According to 39-year-old Charles Pacaonces of Barangay Palje, San Enrique, Iloilo the men claimed they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
However, Senior Superintendent Harold Tuzon, Iloilo provincial police director, said the men were likely criminals planning to use the van for illegal activities.
Pacaonces’ escape may have foiled such plan so they decided to abandon the van, said Tuzon.
The driver told the police she was supposed to meet a client he knew only by her first name, Grace, in Barangay San Antonio at 8 a.m.
She was supposed to rent the van for P9,000 for a trip to Aklan for a family reunion, Pacaonces told the police.
The driver said Grace was referred to him by fellow van driver Danny Almanoche, a resident of Barangay Bucaya, Miag-ao, Iloilo, on Tuesday.
Yesterday morning, however, this Grace phoned him, said the driver, and said she would be sending a nephew to meet him in Barangay San Antonio and that they would all be fetching her instead from another point.
Pacaonces said three men arrived and one of them introduced himself as Grace’s nephew.
After they have all settled inside the van to supposedly fetch Grace, Pacaonces said, the men introduced themselves as NPA members and threatened him with a handgun.
“Ngaa kamahal gid sang sukot ni Danny (Almanoche) haw? Ngaa P9,000 gid ang isa ka trip? Indi ka magpalag, mga NPA kami. Kuhaon lang namon salakyan, indi ka maano,” Pacaonces quoted one of them as telling him.
Then they tied his hands with a cable wire, said the driver.
Pacaones said he found an opportunity to escape when the men ordered him to vacate the driver’s seat and take one of the backseats. Quickly, he managed to free his bound hands, opened the driver’s seat, ran as fast as he could while shouting for help from people nearby.
Flustered, the three men fled using the van.
With the help of barangay officials, Pacaonces alerted the Oton police station and checkpoints were set up.
The nearby San Miguel, Iloilo police station was also contacted and it, too, set up checkpoints.
Around 9 a.m., policemen found Pacaonces’ van in Sitio Sook, Barangay Rizal, Oton.
Almanoche, meanwhile, told the police he met Grace at a transport terminal in Mandurriao district.
The woman inquired about the fare to Aklan, he said, then he referred her to Pacaonces./PN
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