beware of taxi drivers: yet again

Philippines
November 27, 2008 12:23pm CST
FROM VANICK'S SIS. THIS SERVES AS A WARNING. I HOPE VANE IS OKAY NOW. I'm Vacnick's sister. Something happened to her last Saturday morning. I hope that thiw will serve as a caution to all of you. ******* ********* ******** My daughter, Vanessa, is a 1st yr CFAD (College of Fine Arts and Design) student in UST. There was a parade, exhibits, and other activities called CFAD week that ended last Saturday night November 22. After the festivities and the usual hangout with her batchmates they went their separate ways taking taxi cabs at around 2 am of Saturday, November 22. Upon reaching our house Vanessa paid the taxi driver with a P1,000 bill (her savings), the only money left in her after spending her loose change and bills during the said event. Trouble started from there on. My daughter saw the driver drop the P1,000 bill in his left side and produced 2 - P20 bills apparently as change, an argument ensued. My wife, Oyie, who was at the gate waiting for my daughter to come out of the cab was puzzled why it was taking too long. She went out and opened the passenger door and asked if there was something wrong, and the driver proceeded to say that "ok na ho itong bayad ng anak nyo na P60" showing the bills to her. My daughter was pissed upon hearing this and said to her mom that the driver was fooling her and that he doesn't want to give the change for P1,000. Since, our barangay office is just across our house, Oyie decided to seek the help of the tanods only to find out that everyone was sleeping and took time to get up. The taxi then fled the scene upon seeing my wife go to the barangay, my daughter still inside the cab! Oyie immediately ran back into the house and woke me up and hysterically told me what happened. I got into my car and gave chase but didn't find any trace of the cab. I went back picked up my wife who had her cellphone and received a text msg from Vanessa that she was near Caltex across Lourdes Church. When we got there we saw her on the side of Retiro after Apo her face, knees, and clothes blooded. We were both hysterical upon seeing her like this. After a quick check on her physical state and making sure she can stand up, I helped her up and brought her back to the house. In between hysterical cries and sobs, she told us that the driver sped away fuming and angry that my daughter discovered his evil intention and threatened to hurt and kill her. While they were on Retiro, my daughter pleaded to the driver to let her get our and that he can keep her money. The driver was ranting and raving that he would kill her. This scared my daughter that she opened the door and tried to jump out of the moving cab. The driver reached across at the back and grabbed her by the hand while half of her body was our already. The cab kept on moving while she was running along with it and continued to wriggle her hand free from the driver. The driver finally let go and she tumbled out hitting her face on the pavement, scraping her hands and knees too. There was a truck following behind that almost hit her! We brought her to the hospital. She was injected with anti tetanus for her wounds. According to the medical report, she had multiple lacerations on her chin that required stitches. She had to be x-rayed for fractures on her face and CT scanned for possible head trauma. She had broken toenails and traumatic injuries on her knees and cheeks. One of her batchmates was able to jot down the plate number and my wife knows the name of the taxi which was KUL, sedan and white in color. She can identify the driver when she sees him again. I have reported this to the police in Camp Karingal but they can not do anything at the moment (tsk tsk) because they want my daughter to be the complainant. I said that she is sedated and anesthesized in the meantime I ask them to at least do something that this will not happen to other children or other people for that matter. I will post the plate number as soon as we verify it to be that of the KUL taxi. In the meantime, please please tell your children to be very careful when riding cabs or other public conveyances. To bring extra bills or change for fare. Make notes of the name and plate number of the taxis they ride on. And keep extra load in cellphones to call in case of emergency. Oyie J. Cabigao
3 people like this
11 responses
@Nhey16 (2518)
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
i've seen the news on the tv last night. this is terrible. im really pissed off with those taxi drivers who do bad things... that's why i make sure, i have something sharp in my bag and i always observe what the driver was doing and what road he's passing. and also, i always send text message to my husband, the plate number and the kind of taxi i'm into. plus if they have the ID, i do send the name to my husband. oh, i hope Vanessa is now alright.
• Philippines
2 Dec 08
Yes, I saw this at the TV Patrol news last night also. The cab's plate number and taxi name has been changed. This only proves that they are using this cab for robbery. That taxi driver should be sent to prison. He doesn't deserve to work. With all the lying and all the denials he said on the TV, the family should not stop until that man is not punished.
• Philippines
2 Dec 08
correction: until that man is punished.
@gracie04 (4549)
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
yay! that's scary.. everytime i ride a cab, i make sure to get the plate number and text it to my hubby.. file a complain against the driver and hope he gets caught immediately.. he should pay what he did to your daughter..GRRRR!!!
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
She's not my daughter. Sorry if i not made myself clear about that one. =( I'm not related with the victim but i felt so sorry for her when i watched the news so I thought of sharing this to warn everyone about "bad" taxi drivers. It's a good practice that you always text the plate number. Riding a taxi is super scary now if you're alone. Let us all be careful. Cheers!
@jammyt (2818)
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
I saw this in the news last night. I got really pissed! Such users! And abusers! And they always say people should pity them for being poor!I think it was discovered that he was not really a taxi driver? Anyway, to those taking a cab, ALWAYS let somebody know the plate number and make of the car you are riding.Always have loose change before rising a cab if the driver doesn't want to give the change of a pew bucks, just let it be but giving as big as a thousand bucks would really pose for trouble. Always, stay near the door, be alert so that you can go down anytime. Always stay behind the passenger's seat.Reason for this is so that you can kick the driver in case he does something funny. When you ride a cab, make sure all doors are locked. and you can hold on to the door nearest you. You can also fake calling someone telling them you rode this certain cab. me, I always look for the ID of the cab driver and I tell people his name. I hope they catch that damn driver and I hope it doesn't happen to anyone in HIS family. I would love to see how he would react if that happened to his mom or daughter.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
Those were good reminders. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, i do hope that the girl would find justice. And that taxi driver to be condemned. Argh. So ruthless.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
i guess this serves as another lesson for everyone out there. when it comes to taking cabs on wherever i am going, i always make it to a point to have my money changed - if it's a thousand or 500php just to avoid incidents like the one posted above. i hope the girl is fine. and thankful that she's alive though what happened to her is traumatizing. whatever the thoughts are of that driver - may in be that he's desperate or what - i just hope that karma doesn't him hard. what goes around comes around and tendency when situations like this happens is that - karma hits back harder to the one at fault.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
We must really be extra careful this days. That taxi driver, i hope he gets what he deserves. Very bad guy.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
I heard about that story... There are some crazy taxi drivers out there. I hope they arrest that taxi driver. Whenever I ride a taxi, I get the plate number just in case of an emergency. There's another story my girlfriend told me about this taxi driver that almost sexually harassed a female passenger. Not all taxi drivers out there are crazy but some are so I guess we just have to be extra careful nowadays.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
Yup, this is sooo scary. So beware guys!
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
That was terrible. Let's really be careful and let's make sure that we always take note of the taxi plate number especially when commuting alone. Make sure that we have extra credits on our celphone for us to inform always our family what's the plate number of the taxi we are currently riding. I'm glad the victim is already safe and hopefully that driver be persecuted.
@rsa101 (37952)
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
Wow that is really scary thing to happen to your daughter. I guess it is not advisable for them to bring a whole 1000 bill rather make them broken into smaller bills. It is a much easier for them to spend them especially when riding the Taxi they usually don't have enough change for it. Well I hope that taxi wouldbe caught since the plate number was taken by one I guess it's easier to catch up on the operator of that taxi and complain that erring driver.
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
Thanks for the comment. But she's not my daughter. The story was quite spreading now to the newspaper and t.v. shows. This is reminder for everybody... some people don't have a show of conscience. Such a shame.
@julyteen (13252)
• Davao, Philippines
28 Nov 08
OMG. It's horrible incident your daughter experience. Yes, i really agree that we must very careful in riding a taxi because we can't assume that all of them hve good attitude. Nowadays, many people change their attitude because of poverty. Maybe that was the main reason why the driver act as like a criminal. Uhhmmm. I might careful in every ride i take not only for a taxi but all sort of public vehicles.
@NonaSaile (924)
• Philippines
2 Dec 08
Update: I was able the catch the news last night - the taxi driver has been caught and is now in police custody. He made the following statements to the TV interviewer: that he didn't know the girl was still in the cab when he sped off; that it was the girl who tried to jump off and he was holding on to her to keep her from falling off; that there was no P1,000 bill. Also, the taxi cab he was driving had changed the plate number, had obviously been newly painted, and it carried a different name. Here's hoping that Vanessa will soon get over the horrific physical, emotional and mental trauma she went through.
• Philippines
29 Nov 08
It's in the news. I guess I can't judge it based on the story alone. Though I am aware that there are a lot of taxi drivers who are fond of doing bad things to others just to earn an extra. Based on the story: "My daughter saw the driver drop the P1,000 bill in his left side and produced 2 - P20 bills apparently as change, an argument ensued." Was it seriously done or just accidentally dropped the money since 2am is a lazy time surely the taxi driver is also "almost sleepy". I have also encountered something like that when I gave P500 the driver mistakenly thought of it as P100 so the change was incorrect, until I told him with the money I gave him, we argued even until he checked the money. Sometimes I tend to memorize the bill's serial number (last 4 digits) just to make sure that anyone can't cheat me. This also happens in bus and anywhere else. So guys, just be careful. Make sure to have a "smaller bill" when you ride a taxi if not, inform the driver right away so that you can drop by a gasoline station to get a change. Don't assume that they have enough money to give you a change for a big bills, ok? the responsibility is not only on the driver alone, it's with us, the passengers. remember this sign? "BARYA LANG PO, PARA DI MAABALA"
• Philippines
28 Nov 08
I am always cautious whenever I ride the taxi especially at night time. Stories like this makes me paranoid everytime i ride the taxi. haha. but seriously, i don't like it when the taxi drivers or jeep drivers or even other people are stressing about poverty. they could find other ways on how to earn more money other than wasting all their strength doing crimes such as this.