BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – One man was arrested while four others are being hunted down by the police after they allegedly opened fire at a travel bus along the national highway between the town of Toboso and Escalante City over the weekend.
Police identified the captured suspect as 19-year-old Joefel Sante of Purok Makiangayon 2 in Escalante City’s Barangay Balintawak.
Police Major Jake Barila, Escalante City police chief, said the incident occurred Saturday afternoon. The suspects tried to stop the bus along Bangga Aguinaldo in the town of Toboso, he said.
The bus driver and conductor became suspicious, however; 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 bust faster. The five suspects boarded their motorcycles and gave the bus a chase.
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; the chain of his motorcycle failed.
Police later recovered a 357 revolver that Sante attempted to throw away at a grassy area.
Sante admitted to shooting the bus but denied knowing the identities of the four other men.
Sante faces charges for illegal gun possession and illegal discharge of firearm.
He was detained at the Escalante City police station./PN