Celebrity status for brave gasoline boy

MLANG, North Cotabato—A gas station attendant here became an instant celebrity after he foiled a robbery on Tuesday and killed two suspects in the process.

Mlang Mayor Joselito Piñol on Wednesday said the pump boy, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, would be feted by the city government for his bravery.

“He will be honored not because he killed someone but because he protected the company he works for,” the mayor told a radio station in Kidapawan City.

Suspicious

Police authorities said the attendant was manning the gas station, along with several other coworkers, when he got suspicious of three men on a motorcycle, who arrived around 3 p.m.

Identified only as “Isko” in the police report, the attendant told investigators that he avoided making eye contact with the three men as they were filling their motorcycle.

Slowly distancing himself from the gas pump, Isko went into the cashier’s booth and told the cashier to leave as quietly as possible.

One of the suspects, later identified as Antonio Benitez of Quimco Street in Kidapawan City, approached the cashier’s booth with a handgun and declared the robbery.

Isko initially did not put up any resistance and handed over P5,000 in cash from the cashier’s drawer to Benitez.

Time for action

As the suspect boarded the motorcycle with the two other suspects—Jarred Fulgencio of Barangay Libertad, Makilala town, and Adrian Lalen, also of Makilala—Isko jumped out of the cashier’s booth and grabbed Benitez’s handgun.

He shot first Benitez, killing the suspect instantly. Isko continued firing and killed Fulgencio while wounding Lalen.

The wounded Lalen was able to drive the motorcycle for about a kilometer before being held at a checkpoint manned by militiamen.

The P5,000 from the gas station was recovered from him.

Lalen remains in a tightly guarded room at a hospital in Kidapawan City, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds.

Piñol could not hide his admiration for the pump boy. “He is so brave,” said the mayor.

“The gas station attendant was unarmed yet he managed to kill two,” one resident said. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao