BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – There are no organized crime groups operating in the northern part of Negros Occidental, the police assured the public.
Five gunmen opened fire at a Ceres bus between the town of Toboso and Escalante City on Saturday.
According to the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (NOCPPO), a suspect was arrested – 19-year-old Joefel Sante.
Police Lieutenant Judesses Catalogo, NOCPPO spokesperson, described Sante a “newly-identified personality.”
Charges of illegal possession and illegal discharge of firearm have already been filed against Sante.
Catalogo said the bus shot on Saturday had an onboard close circuit television (CCTV) camera and the NOCPPO already have the copy of the recorded footage of the incident.
The CCTV camera managed to capture all of the gunmen’s faces. The NOCPPO is now in the process of identifying them.
On July 30, Sante and his four accomplices tried to stop the Ceres bus along Bangga Aguinaldo in the town of Toboso.
The bus driver and conductor became suspicious, however, after they saw one of the men carrying a metal pipe.
Both the driver and conductor were also aware of several robbery incidents reported in the area thus instead of stopping, the driver drove the bus faster.
As they were driving towards the direction of Escalante City, the suspects opened fire several times at the bus.
The conductor, meanwhile, phoned the Escalante City Police Station.
Luckily, a unit of the Negros Occidental Police Mobile Force Company (NOCPMFC) was conducting a checkpoint along Crossing Cristobal and when the bus reached the cops, both the driver and conductor immediately sought their help.
The gunmen, meanwhile, saw the checkpoint and made a U-turn towards Toboso. The cops chased them.
Sante was later arrested after his motorcycle suffered a mechanical failure when its chain broke down.
Police recovered Sante’s firearm, a .357 revolver.
When questioned by police, Sante admitted to the incident but denied knowing the identities of the four other men.
He also denied that they were planning to rob the bus, and that they only shot the bus “for fun.”
No one was wounded among the occupants of the Ceres bus./PN
