TAXI DRIVER HOLD UP

yesterday i receive this mail from a young filipina woman:

I am writing to warn people about a taxi-hold-up that I fell victim to. Last Saturday after leaving Shangrila Mall, I hailed a taxi to go to a Makati appointment. After advising the cab driver of my destination, he, an old man in his mid 50's with salt and pepper hair and slightly heavy, advised me that he just came from EDSA and that the southbound lane is choked because of an accident.

Thereafter he suggested that we take the C5/Fort Bonifacio route instead. Once he started off, I proceeded to do my calls and texts and didn't pay much attention after that. Shortly before the Fort Bonifacio turn, he pointed out a taxi on the side of the road with its hazards on. He said in a concerned voice that that was his friend (""Ay kumpare ko 'yon"") and pulled over in front of the cab. I complained because I was in a hurry but he said ""pasensiya nap o, hindi ko naman maiwan basta-basta"".

So I went back to texting and making calls. The next thing I knew, the other ""taxi driver"" opened the driver side back door and jumped in the seat next to me, pointed a gun at me and grabbed the phone and said that I did not need to get hurt if I cooperated. He was younger than the first driver and had dark skin. He grabs my purse and attempts to rifle through my stuff and got irritated with all the papers and small notebooks so he dumped out all the contents in the seat between us. He proceeded to take 3000 pesos cash I had in there and asked me for the atms.

We then drove to the NEW MANILA area in an attempt to find an ATM that did not have a lot of f oot traffic, according to him. He got the PIN and other particulars from me and when we found a BPI along E.Rodriguez, we drove past it and pulled around a corner. Then a third man knocked on the window. For a moment, I thought that I was going to be saved, that was when I turned and noticed the same cab we stopped for along C5 was behind us and must have been following us all along and that this guy was part of it. The guy sitting next to me rolled down the window, gave him my cards and card particulars. He walked back around the corner and must have gone to the bank.

I pleaded with the man beside me for my purse, keys, the necessary IDs, cards and documents. The third guy comes back, mumbles something in what I think was Visayan (although I am not sure) and after that, the guy turns to me and angrily says that they got only Php 10,000.00. Apparently, the BPI did not take my other ATM (IBANK) but only the credit card. They said that they had to look for an ATM that accepts IBANK. At which point, I remembered that there was nothing in the account because we were switching to a direct cash system with accounting. They off course did not believe me and the guy with the gun said that if I tried to trick them that they would kill me and dump me in Batangas.

So guy #2 and #3 discussed among themselves and then guy #3 drove off with my cards. We waited for what seemed like forever and I kept my head down and prayed quietly. When I looked up, he was tinkering with my phone and inquired as to whose (I had a 7650) photo was on the wall paper and if that guy was my boyfriend (actually, it was a photo of my husband who is American). I did not say anything and he got angry and poked me with his gun. I just told him that it was a photo of a guy I met when I was in the states. Shortly after he turned it back on, messages started coming in and the phone started ringing and he panicked. At which point I told him that I was already late for a meeting and that people are probably already wondering where I am and looking for me. He turned off the phone and then we waited some more for his third companion. I tried as much as I could to remember details about the cab but almost all of the inscriptions inside it had been scratched off. When the third guy came back, he was very agitated because there was nothing in the ATM.

They muttered some more stuff and he thumbed through the cash that he had, gave some bills to the third person and indicated to the driver to drive. He brought us back again to C5 this time nearer Kalayaan and I had walked to the nearest store to call my home but no one was there. Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of my client's office and fortunately, was able to get a hold of my husband through them. I took a cab back home and it was then that the reality of what had happened sank in. I thought up until yesterday that I was too street -smart to let something like this happen and that I am usually vigilant about MOs.

I probably would have caught it if I had paid more attention. One of the more frightening realizations was without my cellphone, outside of my home number and my husband's cellphone, I could not even get a hold of anybody - my family nor my friends. They were either connected to me through their cellphone or I didn't even bother to learn/remember their landlines. Next time you take a cab and the driver suggests an out of the way route, or want to pull over for anyone or for any reason, watch out. I hope you can share this with your readers, friends and family so we can nip this MO in the bud.