02 November 2005
2 found dead & rotting inside stolen tanker
BINALONAN – The body of a driver and his helper were found already rotting inside the compartment of a hijacked 10-wheeler gasoline tanker parked along the road shoulder facing north in barangay Sumabnit here Monday afternoon.
Police Chief Senior Inspector Roberto Manuel identified the fatalities as Romy Simplicio and Rudy Baldemor, driver and helper, respectively of the gasoline tanker with Plate No. 559 owned by couple Noni and Norma Salvejo of Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
Manuel said both victims had bullet wounds in their heads and might have been shot dead somewhere else in the absence of bullet fragments, including empty shells, inside the front seat of the gasoline tanker.
Initial investigation conducted by the police here in coordination with the Nueva Vizcaya police office showed that the tanker left Bambang to fetch gasoline from Bataan last Oct. 22 and was expected to return home the following day.
The police theorized the gasoline tanker might have been hijacked on its way back from Bataan by unidentified men somewhere in Caranglan, Nueva Vizcaya and emptied of its content, an estimated P1.050 million worth of gasoline.
The owners of the vehicle told the police that their last contact with the two was through a text message from Simplicio that they were already at barangay Digdig in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija, on their way back to Bambang, after taking their dinner at barangay Sicsican in Talavera, Nueva Ecija.
They never reached Bambang as the vehicle they were riding may have been hijacked from there and driven to the north, stopping at the shoulder of the road in barangay Sumabnit, Binalonan, from where it was abandoned.
SPO1 Victorino Baybayan of the Binalonan police said a certain Jose Rodriguez called up the police after he smelled foul order emanating from the tanker which may have been abandoned along the road shoulder possibly the day before. When they forcibly opened it, they found the body of Simplicio and Baldemor inside the compartment of the tanker at the back of the driver’s seat. The tanker was emptied of its gasoline cargo.
A citizen, Noel Fiesta, 19, told the police that the same gasoline tanker overtook his vehicle at 5 a.m. of Oct. 23 and saw it stopping in front of Nestle warehouse along the highway in barangay Sumabnit, where two persons whom he presumed to be the driver and helper alighted. (PNA)
Police Chief Senior Inspector Roberto Manuel identified the fatalities as Romy Simplicio and Rudy Baldemor, driver and helper, respectively of the gasoline tanker with Plate No. 559 owned by couple Noni and Norma Salvejo of Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya.
Manuel said both victims had bullet wounds in their heads and might have been shot dead somewhere else in the absence of bullet fragments, including empty shells, inside the front seat of the gasoline tanker.
Initial investigation conducted by the police here in coordination with the Nueva Vizcaya police office showed that the tanker left Bambang to fetch gasoline from Bataan last Oct. 22 and was expected to return home the following day.
The police theorized the gasoline tanker might have been hijacked on its way back from Bataan by unidentified men somewhere in Caranglan, Nueva Vizcaya and emptied of its content, an estimated P1.050 million worth of gasoline.
The owners of the vehicle told the police that their last contact with the two was through a text message from Simplicio that they were already at barangay Digdig in Caranglan, Nueva Ecija, on their way back to Bambang, after taking their dinner at barangay Sicsican in Talavera, Nueva Ecija.
They never reached Bambang as the vehicle they were riding may have been hijacked from there and driven to the north, stopping at the shoulder of the road in barangay Sumabnit, Binalonan, from where it was abandoned.
SPO1 Victorino Baybayan of the Binalonan police said a certain Jose Rodriguez called up the police after he smelled foul order emanating from the tanker which may have been abandoned along the road shoulder possibly the day before. When they forcibly opened it, they found the body of Simplicio and Baldemor inside the compartment of the tanker at the back of the driver’s seat. The tanker was emptied of its gasoline cargo.
A citizen, Noel Fiesta, 19, told the police that the same gasoline tanker overtook his vehicle at 5 a.m. of Oct. 23 and saw it stopping in front of Nestle warehouse along the highway in barangay Sumabnit, where two persons whom he presumed to be the driver and helper alighted. (PNA)
