Promotion a 2-yr wait for cop who foiled bus robbery

A member of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police has been promoted to the next rank for foiling a robbery group in Muntinlupa City in 2015.

The National Police Commission (Napolcom) recently approved the special promotion of Bob Belver from Inspector to Senior Inspector.

Napolcom vice chair and executive officer Rogelio Casurao said a special promotion is granted “for acts of conspicuous courage and gallantry at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty.”

He noted that Belver was promoted for risking his life when he thwarted a robbery on a passenger bus at Alabang Viaduct, Muntinlupa, on Sept. 2, 2015. The officer was then off-duty and on his way home to Calamba City when four men held him at knifepoint and grabbed his bag.

Belver told the robbers that he was a policeman and ordered them to drop their knives, but they still tried to stab him. In the ensuing scuffle, the policeman was able draw his gun and fire at the robbers, hitting two of them.

The other two robbers were able to jump off the bus and run away, but they were later arrested by the Muntinlupa police.

Belver is currently assigned to the CIDG-Pangasinan office. —JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE