Metrobriefs

‘Killer highway’ claims 2 lives

TWO MEN were killed after their motorcycle crashed into the back of a bus that had stopped to drop off  passengers on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City after midnight yesterday. Mamerto Balgos IV and Christopher Villablance, aged 19 and 20, respectively, died on the spot after the accident on the eastbound lane of the so-called “killer highway,” near the Commission on Audit building. Traffic investigator PO2 Allan Paul Florendo of the Quezon City Police Traffic Sector 5 said that according to witnesses, the motorcycle was traveling at a fast clip while the victims were not wearing protective helmets. Initial investigation showed that bus driver Ruben Bolanos of Precious Grace Transport had just stopped his vehicles to let some passengers off when a loud thud was heard coming from the back of the bus. When bus conductor Gerald Catibog checked the source of the noise, he found the bloodied victims lying under the bus and their motorcycle a wreck. Julie M. Aurelio

Cops eye inside job angle in convent payroll robbery

THE DRIVER of a convent in Quezon City has been linked to the theft of its payroll money on Holy Tuesday. However, the suspect, Efren Padilla, went home to Pangasinan province a day after the heist and has yet to return. At 2:15 p.m. on March 26, five armed men barged into the Convent of the Holy Spirit on Poinsettia Street as several nuns and employees were counting the payroll money delivered earlier by an armored van. The robbers took the cash amounting to nearly P418 million, in addition to two cell phones. Insp. Alan dela Cruz, theft and robbery section chief of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said that Padilla fell under suspicion after some nuns and employees claimed that before the robbery, they saw him standing outside the convent as if waiting for someone. They also saw him talking on his cell phone. Minutes later, the robbers arrived and took the payroll money. After the heist, Padilla was again spotted talking to another man.  “The man that the driver was talking to turned out to be one of the armed robbers,” the police said. He added that they would be filing charges against Padilla based on circumstantial evidence and the statements of his fellow employees. The police also said that a day before he left for Pangasinan, Padilla was informed that he would undergo a lie detector test.  Julie M. Aurelio