Armored van driver abducted? No way, says mayor

Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. reportedly stopped an armored van of East West Bank on Shaw Boulevard, and punched its driver before spiriting him away on Friday afternoon, according to lawyer Ricardo Diaz, Central Luzon director of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Diaz, who received a tip on the incident, sent the information in a text message to the Inquirer Central Luzon bureau early Friday afternoon.

Abalos was quick to deny he punched and abducted the driver of the armored car, claiming he had merely accosted the latter for a traffic violation.

“I did not punch or abduct anyone. We only asked for the license of the driver of the vehicle which had been parked on Shaw Boulevard and was obstructing traffic for several minutes,” Abalos said in a phone interview.

A police blotter identified the driver as Daniel Valenzuela, 42, a resident of Antipolo City.

Abalos said the armored car was illegally parked in front of a store on Shaw Boulevard.

“I was a witness when this armored car parked there without regard to the traffic,” he said.

Mandaluyong City public information chief Jimmy Isidro said the mayor was on his way to a meeting with local officials at the Legend Hotel when he saw the traffic buildup and what caused it.

The driver initially refused to give his license to the traffic enforcers assigned in the area, prompting him to come out of his car and accost the driver himself, the mayor said.

Isidro said there could have been a slight commotion in the area because the driver refused to surrender his license.

After he was given a violation ticket, the driver apologized to the mayor and the traffic enforcers, he said.

Abalos said the driver was merely escorted by the traffic enforcers to city hall to pay the fine.

“How could we abduct him? Being an armored van, the men escorting it   all carried long firearms,” he said.

At city hall later, it was Abalos who paid the P500 fine because he pitied the driver who had no money, Isidro said.

Isidro then appealed to Diaz not to spread information that could harm a public official like Abalos, especially if he had no proof of what really happened.