BAGUIO CITY July 20 – Police authorities warned the public against erring taxi drivers who employ all spray of chemicals that tend to lose the consciousness of their passengers for them to be able to divest from them their cash and personal belongings or take advantage of females, especially during the night.
The warning was issued by concerned authorities after two females posted in the social media their own experience of nearly being victimized by the taxi drivers which they boarded in separate occasions last Friday.
The first spray incident reportedly happened at around 4 pm Friday where a certain Jenny and her two minor companions boarded a taxi which was destined towards a still undisclosed direction. While en route to their supposed destination, Jenny noticed that the taxi’s air condition was put on considering that the driver was trying to rid the bad odor from his vehicle after reportedly having smoked a cigarette inside.
She reportedly noticed that the driver had been clicking something in the taxi’s air conditioning unit until such time that they suddenly felt dizzy and noticed that it seems that they were not proceeding to their supposed destination that prompted her to use her presence of mind, asked the taxi driver to stop and for them to immediately alight from the vehicle to prevent them from being exposed to danger or bad motive of the driver.
The second spray incident reportedly happened late Friday night when a call center agent was again nearly victimized by a taxi driver while she was on her way to work.
According to her post in the social media, she boarded the taxi and immediately noticed that the driver had been putting off and on its air conditioning unit until such time that she also felt dizzy.
Instead of allowing herself to be affected by the spray, she opened the window of that taxi and put her head out in order to get fresh air to allow her to get back her senses. It was also at that time that her hubby called up and she requested him to hang on to the phone until such time that she will be able to reach her point of destination.
While they were proceeding to her workplace, the driver tried to continue talking with her but she did not respond to him until such time that the taxi was able to bring her to her point of destination. Despite feeling dizzy, she alighted from the vehicle, stood for several minutes in front of the gate for her to gain her senses before swiping her ID card.
However, before entering the gate, she tried to look back and noticed that the taxi was still within the vicinity of her workplace and the driver had looked at her until she entered the door of her workplace.
Probers appealed to victims of the spray modos of taxi drivers to immediately report such incidents to the nearest police station so that appropriate operations could be done for the arrest of the erring drivers who already created an atmosphere of fear among the people, especially those riding the taxi at night.
