METROBRIEFS

He said, they said case: Cop vs security guards

A CAMP Crame-based policeman and two security guards traded accusations on Monday following an argument over a parking spot at a mall in Manila. They later filed complaints against each other with each side claiming that the other was at fault. At around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Police Officer 2 Christopher Kid Viajar, 30, assigned with the PNP Directorate for Personnel and Records Management, went to the Tutuban Center mall at the West Loop in Tondo and asked the mall guards for permission to leave his motorcycle in a no-parking zone. PO2 Romano Fajardo of the Manila Police District Station 2 told the Inquirer that based on their investigation, Viajar had introduced himself as a policeman to security guards Andy Animas and Renente Villanueva. Fajardo said that based on Viajar’s statement, the security guards refused to let him leave his motorcycle and told him, “We don’t care if you are a policeman.” An argument broke out and the security guards allegedly hit the Crame-based policeman on the head with a baton and punched him in the chest. Viajar further claimed that he fell unconscious and lost some of his belongings, including a necklace he wore. On the other hand, the security guards had a different version of the incident. They alleged that Viajar had poked his service firearm at them after they refused to let him leave his motorcycle. They also denied that they hit him on the head.—Monalisa Chuang and Azer N. Parrocha

Van stolen from driver at gunpoint

DESPITE the creation of an expanded anticar theft division in Quezon City, another vehicle has been stolen in broad daylight, according to a police report. Armed men on board a motorcycle forcibly took a black Toyota Hi-Ace Grandia with plate number NOY 227 from its driver in Barangay (village) Balingasa at around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. Police Officer 3 Ernesto Fabre of the Quezon City Police District said the van’s driver, Joemarie Billotes, reported that two men, one of whom was armed with a gun, took the vehicle from him. He told the police that he was waiting for his employer when the carjacking occurred. He narrated that he was seated in the driver’s seat when he noticed two men on a yellow motorcycle approaching. He said one of them alighted from the motorcycle, casually approached him and then pointed a gun at him. The man asked him to alight from the vehicle and when he did, the carjacker got into the vehicle and drove off toward Edsa while his cohort followed him on the motorcycle. The driver said he failed to get the plate number of the motorcycle although he told the police that he would recognize the car thieves should he see them again.—Nancy C. Carvajal