Not even a vehicle whose tires are being checked at a vulcanizing shop in Makati City is safe from car thieves.
Ismael Varga, 36, a family driver, learned this lesson on Friday night.
Supt. Jaime Santos, Makati City Police officer in charge, said Varga was having the tires of the red Toyota Innova (ZFR 755) he was driving checked at a vulcanizing shop along Fabian Yabut Street in Barangay (village) Guadalupe Viejo at around 10.30 p.m. when the car thieves struck.
The vehicle is owned by Varga’s employer, Mahinhin Bertin, of Loyola Heights Subdivision in Quezon City.
“He said he was checking one of the tires when he heard somebody shouting ‘Dapa! Dapa!(Duck! Duck!). But before he could even check what was happening, one of the suspects suddenly appeared, hit his head with a gun and forcibly took the car key from him,” Santos quoted Varga as saying.
The three suspects then boarded the vehicle and sped away, leaving him behind, Santos said.
Meanwhile, two men lost their motorcycles to armed thieves in separate occasions.
The suspects in the two incidents rode a motorcycle in tandem and brandished handguns at their victims.
At around 7:35 p.m. on Friday, at the corner of Road 10 and Moriones Street in Tondo, Reggie Amurao, 39, was aboard his Suzuki Smash (7864-NI) on his way home to Malabon City, when two men aboard another motorcycle waylaid him.
The suspects each drew out a handgun as they ordered him off his motorcycle. One of the suspects then took control of Amurao’s bike and sped away with his companion trailing in the other bike.
At around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Francisco Bautista, 28, of Makati City, lodged a complaint before the police, claiming that two men aboard a motorcycle had grabbed his motorcycle.
Bautista claimed he was aboard his Yamaha Mio (6656-UE) and had stopped on M.H. del Pilar and Quinto Streets in Malate, when the thieves struck.
The suspects, Bautista said, wore bonnets beneath their crash helmets. With a report from Jeannette I. Andrade