beware of taxi drivers: yet again

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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