Mar's cousin loses SUV

MANILA, Philippines - A cousin of former Sen. Mar Roxas lost her high-end sport utility vehicle to two armed men in Makati City shortly after midnight yesterday.

Roxas’ cousin Margarita Fores, a chef, said the carjackers took her Toyota Land Cruiser with licence plate ZTG-747 at gunpoint from her driver while it was parked along De la Rosa Street in Legaspi Village.

Fores said her driver Roberto Villanueva was preparing to pick her up at her restaurant in Greenbelt when the car thieves struck.

She noted that Villanueva and her janitor had just loaded laundry at the rear compartment of the vehicle and were about to leave when two armed men approached and demanded the car be handed to them.

She said the car thieves frisked the pockets of Villanueva and took his wallet, cell phones, and cigarettes and immediately sped off, trailed by a backup white Terrano.

The carjacking took place as police were still investigating the killings of three people involved in the used car trade.

Three victims – Emerson Lozano, his driver Ernani Sensil and another car dealer Venson Evangelista – were killed and their bodies burned.

Sensil’s burned body was found in a grassy lot in La Paz in Tarlac last Jan. 13, while the charred body of Lozano was recovered in Porac, Pampanga on Jan. 14.

Evangelista’s remains, on the other hand, were found last Jan. 14 in Barangay Buliran in Nueva Ecija. The body was identified by his father Arsenio only on Tuesday.

Police said they have leads, witnesses and probative value to help them identify, arrest and prosecute the killers. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Jose Rodel Clapano