MANILA, Philippines ? A taxi driver has been found guilty of robbing his passenger in February 2005.

In an 11-page decision, Judge Bayani Vargas of the Quezon City regional trial court Branch 219 sentenced Rene Natad to eight years and 20 days in prison for robbing April Tuazon, a call center trainer working in Ortigas, Pasig City.

He also ordered Natad to pay back the amount he stole from his victim.

In his ruling, Vargas downplayed Natad?s defense that he was not the driver of the cab that Tuazon rode in.

Natad also claimed that he was just a newly hired driver.

Vargas noted that the victim was able to positively identify Natad as one of the two men who robbed her inside the taxi cab.

Insufficient defense

?Bare denial and alibi are insufficient to overcome the positive identification by the prosecution witnesses,? he said in his decision.

He added that even if there were some inconsistencies in the victim?s testimony about the amount of cash taken from her, these did not weaken her testimony.

?Discrepancies in the testimonies of witnesses referring to minor details and not upon the basic aspect of the crime do not impair their credibility,? the judge said.

Court records showed that Tuazon boarded Natad?s taxi sometime in February 2005 in the wee hours of the morning. She said she failed to notice another man sitting in the front passenger seat.

The other man was later identified as Rey Cruz. He was able to post bail and then went missing.

Second man

Tuazon said that she asked to be brought to Ortigas in Pasig City. Along the way, the second man showed himself to her and announced a holdup, demanding that she give him her belongings.

Among the items taken from her were several pieces of jewelry worth P20,000 and around P8,000 to P9,000 in cash.

Tuazon said the two men dropped her off somewhere in Fairview after which she reported the incident to police.

In his defense, Natad claimed that he did not know Cruz and that he was just a newly hired taxi driver who couldn?t even remember the markings of the taxi he was driving.

He also denied having robbed Tuazon.

The court, however, noted that the victim had no motive to make false accusations against Natad which could result in his imprisonment.