PNP eyes more charges vs Edsa ‘road rage’ suspect

Gerard Raymond Yu—GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Philippine National Police would likely charge a Pasig City businessman with carrying firearms without permits and unlawful switching of car plates, in addition to murder in the shooting death of a family driver during a road rage incident in Makati City this week.

PNP spokesperson Police Col. Jean Fajardo said on Thursday that the possible charges against Gerard Raymond Yu, the suspect in the fatal shooting of Aniceto Mateo on Tuesday, were for violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act, or Republic Act (RA) No. 10591 and the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, or RA 4136.

The Makati police said Yu, who is detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City, would be brought to an inquest proceeding in Makati on Friday.

Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Vigor Mendoza II on Thursday said he ordered a 90-day suspension of Yu’s driver’s license in connection with two administrative cases against him—reckless driving and being an “improper person” operating a motor vehicle.

No verbal exchange

Mateo, who was driving a white Toyota Innova, was shot in the southbound lane of the Edsa-Ayala Tunnel past 2 p.m. on Tuesday by the suspect, who was driving a black Mercedes-Benz sedan with plate No. BCS 77.

Mateo had two passengers—a housekeeper and a 7-year-old child who were on their way home to Ayala Alabang—when he and Yu allegedly figured in a road rage confrontation.

Southern Police District Deputy Director for Administration Police, Col. Jessie Tamayao, said there was no exchange of words between Yu and Mateo before the shooting, but there was “continuous honking by the suspect” in the Mercedez-Benz as it followed behind the Innova into the Edsa-Ayala Tunnel.

No permit to carry

Yu was arrested by the police on Wednesday morning at his residence in Riverside Village, Pasig, where they also seized the vehicle he had used and two .40-caliber pistols that were licensed in his name.

Yu did not have a permit to carry his firearms outside his residence, Fajardo said.

According to the law, a license to possess a firearm does not automatically permit the owner of a gun to bring it along with him.

A ballistic test on the cartridge that was recovered at the crime scene has determined that one of the pistols had fired the bullet that hit Mateo, 65, killing him.

Yu also tested positive for gunpowder residue, an indication that he had fired a shot, and also was positively identified by an eyewitness to the shooting, said Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos.

Second car plate

The police also found another car license plate, BCS 77, inside the Mercedez-Benz.

Investigators found that the registered owner of the car was not Yu but a resident of Las Piñas City, according to LTO-National Capital Region Director Roque Verzosa III.

According to Mendoza, the registered owner—whose identity the LTO did not disclose— would be asked to explain why Yu was driving his car, with license plate No. DAB 9670.

The two will be asked to explain why the car has two license plates, Mendoza said.

“These are all part of the due process,” he said.

“We are again reminding our fellow citizens to carry an enormous amount of patience while on the road because being hotheads will do us no good,” Mendoza said. —WITH A REPORT FROM RUSSEL P. LORETO