Metrobriefs

Free LRT rides for seniors

SENIOR citizens  will be able to ride for free on Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 today as part of the celebration of Elderly Filipinos Week. The LRT Authority (LRTA) said free rides would be given to anyone above 65 years old all day.  LRTA Administrator Rafael Rodriguez said senior citizens can avail of the free rides simply by presenting identification cards  issued  by their respective local governments showing their age. But  he added that just because rides were to be given out for free, the LRTA was not about to compromise its own safety procedures. “All elderly persons availing of the free ride at LRT shall be subjected to the usual frisking and baggage inspection,” Rodriguez said.  Apart from the one-time free rides to be given out today, the LRT said it supports the rights of the elderly by giving a 20 percent discount on train fares, and designating special boarding areas inside the trains and express lanes at  ticket booths on regular days. Paolo G. Montecillo

Rob suspect:  ‘I’m only a janitor’

TAGGED  by the Manila Police District  as the grenade thrower of the Martilyo Gang which pulled a daring heist late Thursday afternoon at a jewelry store in Manila,  arrested suspect Basir Basilon did not deny he was  part of the group,  but claimed he was only the gang’s  “janitor.” Basilon, who was charged yesterday in  the City Prosecutor’s Office with robbery with homicide, three counts of murder and multiple counts of frustrated murder, claimed he was only supposed to pick up  his gang mates  after the heist.  Three persons died in the  robbery staged at The Sisters Jewelries shop in Sta. Cruz, including a security guard and two other suspects. Five others  were hurt after a grenade was lobbed by the suspects as they fled from the scene. Jeannette I. Andrade