Teen driving without license avoids checkpoint, girlfriend gets shot at by village watchmen

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — A 23-year-old woman claimed she was shot by village watchmen after she and her boyfriend, on a motorcycle, failed to stop at a road checkpoint in San Pablo City in Laguna province.

The victim, identified as Jobie Glorioso, a college student, suffered multiple bullet wounds in the abdomen.

City police chief Lt. Col. Eliseo Bernales said Glorioso was already in stable condition as of Sunday, while her boyfriend, 17, who was driving the motorycle, was unharmed.

In a phone interview, Bernales said the couple was on their way home to Tiaong, Quezon when they passed through a checkpoint manned by village watchmen in Barangay (village) Sto. Angel in San Pablo City past midnight, Sunday.

But instead of pulling over, the couple sped away, prompting the village officials to shoot them. Glorioso, who was riding at the back, was the one who took the bullets.

According to Bernales, the boyfriend, a minor, told them he was driving without a license and “probably got scared.”

The police were coordinating with the village officials of Sto Angel to identify who among them had fired the gun.