Enforcers hurt after cabbies rammed them

TWO Mandaue traffic enforcers suffered cuts and bruises after two taxi drivers rammed them at the Mandaue Reclamation Area in separate incidents.

Last Sunday, Eugene Cabatingan of the Traffic Enforcement Agency in Mandaue was manning traffic along M. Logarta Street in barangay Subangdaku when a Tiger Taxi with plate no. GXR 784 stopped along a no-stopping area.

When he flagged down the taxi to issue a traffic citation ticket at 1:30 p.m., the taxi driver rammed him. The impact caused Cabatingan to fall and bounce on the hood of the car and then fall on the concrete pavement. The taxi then left the enforcer and sped off.

Cabatingan, of barangay Maguikay, Mandaue City was treated for cuts and bruises at the hospital.

Police were still coordinating with Tiger Taxi management to arrest the taxi driver, who had yet to be identified.

Yesterday, on the same area, at 6 a.m., TEAM member Ramil Branzuela was manning traffic when an M&J Taxi with plate number GWN 611 obstructed traffic.

When Branzuela approached the cab, the driver, Joel Arranguez, 40, of Daan Bantayan, tried to run Branzuela over.

Branzuela leaped to the side to avoid getting hit but the cab still clipped him on the leg  causing him to fall on the pavement.

The cab sped off but returned a few minutes later with two companions, who claimed to be barangay tanods.

Branzuela sensed danger and ran. Another enforcer saw the incident and called for backup. When more enforcers arrived, Arranguez companions ran away and Arranguez was arrested.

He told police that he was afraid that Branzuela might take his driver’s license. Arranguez was detained at the Subangdaku police station pending the filing of attempted homicide charges./Correspondent Jucell Marie P. Cuyos