Robbers shoot Brit and Pinoy seaman

By Ernie B. Esconde, Manila Times Central Luzon Bureau 

 

DINALUPIHAN, Bataan: Five unidentified men shot at passengers of a Victory Liner bus they held up at the Gapan-Olongapo Road in Barangay Saguing here at dawn Friday after two passengers, one of them a police officer, attempted to fend off the robbers.

 

Wounded were six passengers, including a Filipino seaman and a British man who are in serious condition.

 

Sr. Supt. Hernando Zafra, Bataan police director, identified the passengers in critical condition as seaman Francis Dolera, 40, of Barangay Paanan, Botolan, Zambales; and British national Paul Howard, 58, a resident of Jansen Extension in Olongapo City.

 

The two were rushed to the James Gordon Memorial Hospital in Olongapo City together with the other wounded passengers: Sarah Jane Saguin, 34, of Botolan, Zambales; Florencio Chavez, 43, of Lubao, Pampanga; Noel Monte­mayor, 32, of Jansen Extension, Olongapo; and Police Sr. Insp. Adriano Adsuara, 53, of the Maritime command of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

 

Reports showed that the five men boarded the Victory Liner bus, with plate No. CWX-619, in San Fernando, Pampanga. The bus was coming from Pasay City and bound for Iba, Zambales.

 

When the bus reached the Gapan-Olongapo Road in Saguing, Dinalupihan, the five men who had been scattered in various seats during the trip suddenly rose to announce the holdup at about 1:45 in the morning. They brandished a .45-caliber pistol, a .38-caliber revolver, a 9-mm pistol and a fan knife, police said.

 

While starting to divest Dolera of his valuables, the seaman resisted but was shot several times by one of the robbers positioned near Mario Quijano of Calumpit, Bulacan, the bus driver. The seaman suffered multiple gunshot wounds but the driver was not hurt.

 

Maritime Captain Adsuara then fired his service pistol and hit one of the robbers but one of the suspects stabbed him in the left shoulder, rendering him immobile.

 

The other suspects then fired indiscriminately and wounded four other passengers.

 

The suspects carrying with them their wounded companion then boarded a waiting white vehicle of unknown make and drove off toward Olongapo City, Intelligence officer Chief Insp. Luisito Magnaye said.

 

Colonel Zafra said he has alerted all police units in Bataan and asked other units in Pampanga, Olongapo City and Zambales to be on the lookout for the still unidentified robbers.

 

Police agents were also directed to inspect all hospitals in the area for the possible confinement of the wounded robber