2 jeepney barkers charged with accountant’s death

Two jeepney barkers, one of them a teenager, were arraigned Monday on robbery with homicide charges over the death on Election Day of a 30-year-old accountant who was protecting his elderly mother.

Bienvenido Soriano, 34, and his 18-year-old stepson John Paul Retone entered a plea of not guilty before Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 Judge Madonna Echiverri. Soriano also contested the gun ban violation charge filed against him after authorities found a pen gun in his possession during his arrest.

The judge, meanwhile, set the next hearing for the cases against Soriano and Retone on July 23.

Court records showed the accused were charged in connection with the May 13 incident during which accountant Nocky Briguez was killed after he fell off a pedestrian footbridge at the corner of Edsa and Quezon Avenue while struggling with the jeepney barkers who reportedly took his 68-year-old mother’s gold necklace.

Briguez and his mother were on their way to the Metro Rail Transit station after they voted at a nearby precinct when the accused allegedly grabbed the woman’s necklace.