H’way holdups alarm Benguet traders; big money lost to robbers

BY DEXTER A SEE

BAGUIO CITY -- Traders and truckers in the province Benguet are alarmed over a series of road holdup incidents that resulted to the loss of big amounts of money and valuables.

Following this, the Benguet Truckers and Traders Association Inc. and Benguet Vegetable Truck Drivers Association called on the leadership of the Philippine National Police to assign policemen along Marcos Highway and Kennon Road especially during the wee hours when the robbers usually pounce on delivery trucks.

For the past two months, dozens of vegetable delivery trucks were held up by armed men at Camp 2, Kennon Road and Palina, Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet on Marcos Highway. The truck drivers criticized policemen assigned at the various police stations in Tuba for alleged incompetence in attending to the reports on the robbery cases.

This has made the robbers believe that they can do their illegal activities with impunity, the drivers said. Gil Ganados, BCTDA president, said alert and competent policemen should be assigned at crime-prone areas of the two roads to look after the safety of motorists.

This, as police authorities assured safety of traders and truckers delivering their agricultural crops to the lowland and metro Manila markets while traveling along major routes. Chief Supt. Eugene G. Martin, regional police director ordered all police offices in the region to enhance their police visibility to deter the commission of petty or high profile crimes.

Aside from the series of holdup incidents, the two farmers’ groups also complained of the rampant extortion being done by some employees of the Land Transportation Office in Tarlac, depriving them of their hard-earned income from the vegetable trade.

Unscrupulous LTO personnel, they said, flag down vegetable delivery trucks and look for minor violations by drivers and occupants and would not let them go until they give in to their demand for money.

It was learned that the minimum amount being demanded by the LTO personnel from one vehicle is P100, but this could go up to P500 depending on the gravity of the alleged violation. Andy Orgino, BTTAI vice-president, said they are willing to cooperate with the authorities for the identification of the LTO personnel involved, but their identities should not be divulged so that they would not be harassed and could pursue their vegetable trading and trucking businesses.

Orgino called on officials of Manila City Hall to find solution to the rampant robbery incidents at the Divisoria market especially during the early banking hours. The vegetable dealers are usually victimized by robbers, he said. Some vegetable traders said they have lost millions of pesos to criminal elements who robbed them near banks in Divisoria, noting the absence of policemen who could immediately respond to calls to help victims of robbery-holdup incidents.

In Camp Dangwa, Martin said he had already given instructions to the Benguet provincial police office to enhance police visibility along the two highways to protect motorists from holdup incidents especially during the wee hours of the morning.

One of the major thrusts of the local PNP leadership is to strengthen the various provincial police mobile groups through increased personnel and the provision of equipment to ensure immediate response time for emergency calls for assistance, he said.

Martin called on the traders and truckers to bring to his attention any erring law enforcer who refuses to attend to their complaints so that they could impose the needed sanctions against them. Officials of the BVTDA and BBTAI vowed to cooperate with police authorities to punish erring policemen provided that their safety would be guaranteed.

The two groups assailed personnel of the Tuba municipal police station for their alleged very poor response time in attending to their complaints after their members were victimized by holduppers along Marcos highway and Kennon road in several instances.

However, Martin said there were operational procedures being followed by the policemen based in the different stations, thus, complainants should not misinterpret the process as lapses on their part thereby allowing the proliferation of crimes. He said problems on robberies, killings among others could be best addressed by deploying 90 percent of the police force in the different stations on the field while the 10 percent will be tasked to do administrative work.

It was learned that one of the suspected highway robbers had been recently arrested but his identity has yet to be released pending tactical interrogation and the filing of appropriate charges against him and his colleagues in the illegal trade. Martin cited that the cooperation of the victims and witnesses is still the major factor to solve the crimes being committed by lawless elements of the society.