CoA chairman loses SUV to carjacker
MANILA, Philippines—They’re getting bolder.
A man held a government official at gunpoint for several minutes Tuesday morning in Parañaque City before fleeing with his vehicle—a government-issued sport utility vehicle (SUV).
Commission on Audit (CoA) Chairman Reynaldo Villar told the Inquirer in a phone interview that the carjacking took place in front of a restaurant on President’s Avenue and A. Aguirre Street inside BF Homes Subdivision at around 10 a.m.
According to him, he usually stops by the restaurant to drink coffee and read newspapers after his regular morning exercise.
Every time, he said, he would drive his car himself.
On Tuesday, Villar was about to drive home when a man opened the door on the passenger side and got in.
“When I sat down, he pointed his gun toward me, told me to look straight ahead and start driving,” he said.
From the place where he had parked, Villar said he drove for about 150 meters toward J. Elizalde Street as the man instructed him not to make any sudden movements or attempt to escape because “his accomplices were watching.”
“I do not know if what the suspect said was true,” Villar said, explaining that the man may have made the whole thing up just to prevent him from escaping.
He added that the man also told him that he and his cohorts had been monitoring his movements for the past two weeks.
The man also said that he was “just taking orders from someone else” and that he wanted to know more about his “target.”
However, he did not elaborate.
Villar said that after a few minutes, the man ordered him to get out of the vehicle.
The car thief then drove off with the Toyota Fortuner (Plate No. ZRV 924).
“It was the service vehicle assigned to me about three years ago,” the CoA chairman said.
According to him, he lost his cell phone, various office documents and an e-pass which were inside the vehicle.
Villar said that he immediately called up his driver and instructed him to report the carjacking to the Parañaque City police.
Senior Superintendent Nestor Pastoral, city police chief, said he had ordered his men to put up checkpoints near the area where Villar’s SUV was taken although nothing came out of it.
Security guards inside BF Homes Subdivision, where Villar lives, were also alerted.
A check with people in the area, however, yielded nothing about the car thief’s identity.
“Our investigators were told by the parking attendants they interviewed that they did not notice the incident,” Pastoral said in a phone interview.
He added that the SUV’s license plate had been flashed to all police stations to alert their units to look out for the stolen vehicle.
Villar, meanwhile, said he was just glad to come out of the experience unscathed.
“I am thankful that I wasn’t harmed,” he told the Inquirer.
