Robber gets 40 years for shooting woman

The court yesterday sentenced a robber to up to 40 years in prison after it found him guilty of shooting to death a woman during a robbery inside a public utility jeepney along McArthur Boulevard five years ago.

Regional Trial Court Judge Olegario Sarmiento Jr. ruled that Stanley Tecson, a resident of barangay Tejero, is guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the death of 42-year-old Perlita Daligdig whom he divested of her belongings during the robbery.

Jeepney conductor Samuel Ynot positively identified Tecson as one of the two robbers who robbed their passengers while they were on their way to Mandaue City around 6:30 p.m. on December 3, 2001.

Four days after the incident, Tecson was arrested in barangay Luz by responding policemen, whose investigation later identified Tecson's accomplice in the robbery as a certain Jojo Guidoquio.

Ynot said Tecson was armed with a handgun when he and his companion held-up the passengers and shot Daligdig who tried to resist.

During the trial, Tecson admitted that he was armed when he boarded the Mandaue City-bound PUJ and snatched the gold bracelet of one of the passengers but failed.

According to Tecson, when he disembarked from the vehicle, some of the passengers held him while the jeepney conductor kicked him and this led to a struggle.

Tecson claimed that he took his handgun from his bag to discourage the people from attacking him, but it accidentally went off and hit Daligdig.

But Sarmiento rejected his arguments and gave more credence to the testimonies of the jeepney conductor who claimed that Tecson shot Daligdig when the latter tried to recover her belongings. - Rene U. Borromeo