Estafa, license revocation for ‘gas-and-run’ driver
The driver in the third “gas-and-run” case reported in Quezon City surrendered on Wednesday night to the police and faces not only estafa charges but also the possibility of having his driving license revoked.
Quezon City Police District (QCPD) spokesperson Maj. Jennifer Gannaban on Thursday confirmed in a text message to the Inquirer the surrender of the 39-year-old driver of a grayish-blue Toyota Vios, identified in a police report as alias “Michael.”
He is accused of fleeing after filling up his vehicle with P1,500 worth of fuel at 3:16 a.m. on May 3 at a gas station on Mindanao Avenue.
In a press briefing at Camp Crame, Philippine National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuaño said that Michael will still be charged with estafa even though he apologized to the gas station attendant and paid the P1,500.
Suspect’s defense
Tuaño, quoting Michael’s statement upon his surrender, said the suspect thought he had given the attendant his credit card.
The suspect, according to the PNP official, was reportedly talking on the phone to his wife at the time. The couple was quarreling as Michael had attended a party and his wife wanted him to come home.
The attendant, however, denied that the suspect handed him his credit card.
The QCPD previously said the Toyota Vios was traced to a Nueva Ecija resident identified as alias “Jherosalyn.”
Tuaño said that when the police went to the owner’s registered address, only Jherosalyn’s children were home. They learned that her husband Michael had been driving the vehicle at the time of the incident.
The same Toyota Vios was also supposedly shown running against the flow of traffic somewhere in Metro Manila in October last year based on a video posted on social media, Tuaño added, citing police investigators’ initial information.
Although it has yet to be determined if Michael was also the one driving at the time, the PNP has used the incident, along with the gas-and-run case, in asking the Land Transportation Office to revoke his driver’s license.
Since March, there has been one case of gas-and-run incidents per month in Quezon City amid soaring fuel prices.
The first one involved a transport network vehicle service driver who also surrendered to the police after he failed to pay for P5,000 worth of gas from a gas station in Barangay Apolonio Samson.
In April, three individuals were arrested after they fled with P1,500 worth of fuel from a gas station in Barangay Payatas.
