Cop misses Valentine’s Day date to solve hit-and-run case

He missed his Valentine’s date with his wife and had nearly a week of sleepless nights just so he could solve a hit-and-run incident which killed a former barangay captain in Batangas.

But it paid off for PO2 Marte Caesar P. Bueno, 32, who finally arrested the driver of the car which hit  Alexander Luistro of Barangay Ayao-Iyao, Lemery, Batangas.

Bueno, who investigated  the case starting  Feb. 8, said he had to sacrifice even his  Valentine’s date with his wife, Agnes, to resolve the case.

“It’s in my interest to see that justice is immediately delivered to the family of the victim,” Bueno, an investigator of the Makati Traffic Bureau, told the Inquirer on Saturday.

The case started when a Toyota car, which was later found to be owned by Rommel Barbers, hit Luistro as he and a couple he was accompanying, was crossing Ayala Avenue in front of the Standard Chartered Building, near VA Rufino St., in the early morning of Feb. 8.

Footage from security cameras in the area failed to capture the incident.

But three witnesses described the car which  sped away from the scene.

Bueno then set out to pursue the case vigorously, after receiving an order from his superiors.

“So for the next three days, I went back to the place … hoping that I could catch someone who happened to see the incident  and who could identify the plate number of the car,” Bueno said.

Bueno also tried to find the newspaper delivery boy who was trailing Barbers’ car at the time on a motorcycle, but to no avail.

Then, something happened that would turn the case around.

“On Saturday, Feb. 11, a security official of a building, Santiago Gacos, called me up to say he saw the incident on TV and knew the plate number of the car. It was like a miracle, a blessing in disguise,” Bueno said.

Gacos, who was on a jeepney in front of Barber’s car at the time, saw the incident and instinctively got the plate number of the car. However, he did not report the case immediately since he thought  many people also witnessed the incident.

With this lead, Bueno and other officers from the Makati Traffic Bureau tracked down the vehicle on Feb. 13 to Antipolo but were told by the original owner that it  had already been sold to Barbers late last year.

Bueno and the others headed back to Makati  and updated his superior.

Around midnight of Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, Bueno  again left home to hunt Barbers.

“From midnight up until five in the morning, I staked out in a canteen in front of the apartment in Pio del Pilar where Barbers lives with his wife. I was sure he will he there because it was Valentine’s Day and he would surely visit his wife,” he said.