Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Hold-up incident report (or, the gal who lived) [UPDATED WITH PHOTOS!]

I wish this were untrue, and I wish I could undo this, but it needs to be shared. 

At around 7:00 pm I withdrew money from Security Bank Annapolis GH branch, near my office. At 7:30-ish pm, I was hailing a cab. I only remember the cab being a beat-up white four-door sedan car with plate number TYL 409.

I can't recall who the driver was at the time and the name of the cab as written on the cab body outside sadly. I do now recall the locks were faulty, that the front windshield had the "cleanfuel" sticker (signifying it's using LPG gas power instead of gasoline), and black rubber at the back windows. The seats were all black leather and had the taxi information, which should be printed legibly, all blurry/erased. 

We made the turn from Annapolis, to EDSA, and then the U-turn under Ortigas flyover. We entered corner to White Plains, at Temple Drive, past People Power Monument. At a vacant lot nearby (before Meralco), and ironically while I was in the middle of texting my family my whereabouts, four men came in and they kicked him out of the cab.

A short description of the four (images here):



  • Man 1 (guy by my right, "Badong"): Crew cut, chiseled face, somewhat pointy chin, small eyes, muscular build but slightly big stomach, with stubble, dark-skinned
  • Man 2 (guy by my left): Dark-skinned, round face, chubby cheeks, bulging eyes, no beard/moustache, short hair parted at the middle, wearing blue long-sleeved Adidas sweater with white stripes at shoulders and sleeves, had a baseball cap that looked a lot like the red Air Asia cap with white text, pudgy arms and legs
  • Man 3/”Boss”: Square face, flat cheeks, moustached stereotypical bad guy minus the big beard, dark-skinned, far-set bulging eyes, light moustache, beard, wearing blue long-sleeved Adidas sweater with white stripes at shoulders and sleeves, parang may white shirt sa loob, with grey beanie hat, had tubo, gravelly voice, muscular arms, pudgy legs 
  • Man 4/Driver ("Bobot"): White cap, white shirt, circular glasses, features remind me of Brod Pete (a local comedian), thin, dark-skinned

I heard someone say “pasensya na (I’m sorry)” but I don’t recall who it is. I do recall the perpetrators drove me around EDSA from Ortigas Avenue to Quezon City, as far as the U-turn right before SM North. They kept threatening to bring me to Bulacan and rape me especially when I initially refused to give them my belongings. They took my ATM cards (Security Bank, BPI Express Teller), my Metrobank credit card, my black BlackBerry Torch 9800 with black Otter protective case, my personal Nokia phones (one is a pink 6020, the other is a black 2700 Classic), my Sony Cyber-shot silver T-100 digital camera, and my black Sony Vaio laptop. After “Boss” made some calls via mobile (they were very clever at keeping the numbers hidden), the gang dropped “Boss” off at Cubao walkway underpass, EDSA southbound at around 9:00 pm so he could withdraw money. He came back and tried to strangle, punch, slap, throw shoes/slippers at me when he couldn't get my credit card PIN out of me (it's fairly new and I don't memorize the PIN at all). They took turns trying to beat me up at some point, except for Driver because he was driving. I fought back, and they told me they would rape me because I wouldn't give them enough money (they needed PhP20,000 and even used Typhoon Sendong as a reason to hold me up). At around 10:00 pm they turned into NIA Road near BIR/PDEA in QC, and threw me out the cab. When Boss tried to hit me with a pipe/tubo, I vaguely remember clawing and kicking back, taking whatever was left of my things, and ran. I found myself at the QC Post Office security guard house (at the gate), and made phone calls to the QC PD, my mother's office, and my best friend's house as those were the only numbers I could contact. 

With my family finally arriving around 11:30 pm to almost midnight, I went to the QC Police Department at Kamuning/EDSA. We waited for a graying-haired 40-ish cop in a white undershirt and police uniform pants named SPO4 Patricio Sanoza (Sanyosa)  to whom I gave my statement, which is attached. I told him about what I recall about the cab, but he did not ask at all  about identifying the criminals.

My SIMs have all been blocked/disabled, as have my ATM and credit cards. Unfortunately they have switched off all phones so I am not sure if they can be traced at this point.  They are able to trace the ATM withdrawal transactions at Metrobank Valencia Hills though. I am cooperating with QCPD in catching the perpetrators.
  
The following day, a friend gave this information about the cab that held me up: 

Plate Number: TYL 409 / E#: 2E-3254892 / C#: EE110-8009918 / MV#: 138000000225318 / Col: Freedom White / Sticker#: 2011122773755 / MVType: Car / TradeName: / Make: Toyota/ Series: COROLLA XL M/T / YRModel: 2001 / MVClass: FOR - HIRE / Org: MARVIN SANTOS.. / OR#: 000201111852482 / CR#: 000000005541645 / BType:sEDAN - 4-DOOR / FRegDate: 09-25-2001 / LRegDate: 09-30-2011 / Fuel: GAS / Route: MARIKINA ANY PT TO LUZON / Franchise#: 96-945 / FEDate: 12-31-2007 / Total Apps: 0 /Total Alarms: 0 / Customer ID CO1378000031312 / Add: 10 MAYSAN ST. VALENZUELA 
  
Separately, I dropped by the QCPD Kamuning once more to get the official, correct copy of the police report I originally filed. There I met a woman named Donna Araujo who was held up on Christmas Day from Main Avenue in Cubao and dropped off at Balete Drive which is very similar to what happened to me. I am trying to get her assistance as she saw the name of the car, which is made purely of consonant letters.

Please stay safe everyone. Hope your Christmas is better than mine. I've seen posts where people blame me for not being vigilant -- excuse me, but I was held up right in the middle of sending my parents an SMS where I was riding, the point here is not whether or not I should've been vigilant but that they still ambushed me anyway even after acting towards my own self-preservation! 


And to these motherfuckers who hurt me and others like me, I hope and pray you lose everything you hold dear -- every body part, every item, every person, every business, every bit of cash, and every generation of your beloved families and clans -- as befits the punishment you have long tried to avoid. 


Links:

12 comments:

Unknown said...

What an unfortunate incident. I'm sorry to hear all these. Hope you'd recover soon - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Ramona Flores said...

Tapang mo to have fought back against FOUR men who had you at their mercy! Tama ka rin na sana mawala lahat ang sa kanila, pati ba naman Sendong ginagamit nilang dahilan!!! :(

Lady San Pedro said...

I'm so sorry Joy. It's just good to know that you are now safe.

†bittersweetdeb† said...

A very very similar thing happened to me. So similar that I feel like I am reading my own written account of what happened to me last Christmas of 2006 :(

I'd like to hear more, we can email if you have the time. But right now I would like you to know that you are not alone in this. You are doing a good thing telling the whole world thru your blog. I was too scared to come forward when it happened to me. And I feel bad that this still happens to other women out there. It has to end, we should hope for the best...

Jeremy said...

Sorry to hear about this. Just want to let you know that the TYL 409 taxi has been circulating for a very long time now.

SpiderHamm said...

Some safety tips:
http://www.spiderhamworld.com/2011/10/when-criminals-attack.html

Ligaya said...

@ Glenn, Ramona and Lady: Thanks so much. Please share this with everyone you know.

@ Unknown: Please do get in touch with me, I'd like to understand what you meant by what you said. My email's easily accessible from here via my Blogger/Google profile page anyway.

@ SpiderHamm: Thanks, but for your reference I DIDN'T use my mobile phone in public before hopping onto the cab, and I was trying to SMS my family my whereabouts when they held me up. To be blunt with you, the comments which imply that I should have been more careful honestly tick me off the most because I FOLLOWED ALL THE PRECAUTIONS AND STILL GOT HELD UP. And honestly, I would still rather have fought back if it meant I was able to hurt them and keep them from their illegal activities. Thanks anyway.

@ †bittersweetdeb†: Thanks so much. My email is easily accessible here in my profile page. Let's do our best to stop them from hurting others.

dragonavatar said...

Kahit po sa Cubao may nabiktima na sila? Grabe! dapat sa mga ito binubugbog at sinisipa! I wish for your recovery and I must say na ang tapang mo to face them! at nandamay pa sila ng mga kababayan natin sa Mindanao. Tsk

Anonymous said...

That really sucks, so sorry it happened to you. 4 guys vs 1 woman, they deserve the worst comeback.

rubie said...

I had similar incident.
http://rubhee.com/2011/10/18/when-holdappers-threaten-our-lives/

I didn't pursue the filing of case, etc. because the police of San Juan are very disappointing. While I'm trembling reporting to them, they managed to argue if where the holdapers ride is part of Mandaluyong or San Juan.

Ligaya said...

Hi Rubie, Thanks for sharing. To be honest I feel bad that you didn't pursue your case either way, because it has empowered the hold-up gang even more.

Unknown said...

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