Text message leads to arrest of driver in Marikina holdup

An exchange of text messages revealed a conspiracy between a taxi driver and four men who robbed a passenger of P100,000 in cash and jewelry in Marikina City last Monday.

Superintendent Sotero Ramos Jr., Marikina City police chief, said Orlando Sison, 49, of Barangay Marikina Heights, admitted his participation in robbing the victim, Thelma Bedio, 49, when confronted of the evidence — his text messages to the perpetrators of the crime.

Sison later led Ramos and his men to the safehouse of his cohorts. Arrested were Jorge Pinon, 24, Noel Gersalina, 39, and his brother, Samuel, 21.

Another suspect identified only as Dave, who was armed with a caliber .45 automatic pistol during the heist, eluded arrest. The loot was allegedly with him.

Ramos said Bedio, a buy and sell trader from Calauag, Quezon, was on her way home after spending hours at a card game in Barangay Concepcion 2 on Sison’s taxi.

"Suki ni Bedio si Sison kaya’t ito ang sinakyan niya para magpahatid sa kanila," Ramos said.

Upon reaching Panorama street in Rancho Estate, Barangay Concepcion 2 at midnight, Sison stepped on the brakes, claiming his taxi’s engine conked out.

When Sison stepped out of the vehicle, the four suspects, armed with handguns and knives, announced a holdup.

The suspects divested Bedio of her P36,000 cash, jewelry and cell phone.

The four suspects then took Sison’s RH-OJay taxi with plate number PWF 949 and escaped toward an unknown direction.

To make it appear he was also a victim, Sison accompanied Bedio to Police Community Precinct 15 located in Barangay Parang to report the robbery and carjacking.

During initial investigation, PO1 Dennis Baltazar noticed Sison still holding on to his cell phone.

"Kung naholdap kayo bakit may cell phone ka pa," Baltazar asked Sison, who explained the phone fell to the ground so suspects failed to noticed it.

When Baltazar, PO3 Greco Gonzales and PO1 Gilbert Ramos asked Sison to hand over his cell phone, the taxi driver hesitated then said the battery was almsot drained.

However, the three policemen prevailed and quickly discovered the driver was lying.

The cell phone revealed an exchange of text messages between the taxi driver and the elder Gersalina on how the robbery on Bedio was to be carried out.

Sison admitted his participation to the robbery and led policemen to his three cohorts in Marikina Heights. Pinon yielded a caliber .38 revolver.

"Umamin silang apat at first time lang daw nilang ginawa ‘yon," said Ramos, noting that Sison was the one who planned the robbery.

Ramos commended his three policemen for their quick thinking, which led to the solution of the robbery.