HPG recovers SUV used in Pampanga road rage incident

The head of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) Friday said that they have recovered the expensive sports utility vehicle (SUV) used by the motorist who mauled a fellow motorist in a road rage incident in Pampanga earlier this week.

Chief Supt. Robert Fajardo disclosed that the Toyota FJ Cruiser reportedly owned by suspect Jojo Valerio, 30, was recovered while being driven by his girlfriend along Quirino Highway, Novaliches, Quezon City, at about 3 a.m. Friday.

Fajardo said, to avoid being easily recognized, the SUV’s color was modified or changed with the use of a sticker, and the protocol plate Number 8 replaced with a regular license plate.

He said despite altering the vehicle’s color and replacing its plate, the task force was still able to trace the vehicle registered to Valerio.

“So na flag down ng ating task force and iyun nga nung tinignan yung ORCR, hindi tugma doon sa kulay (So the task force was able to flag it down and upon looking at the ORCR, it no longer matches the color),” Fajardo said.

“Meron tayong tracer. Prinoject natin ‘to kasi nga nag viral and we want to show to the public na ‘di dapat nangyayari iyung ganito at di dapat tayo papayag na palitan from ganito eh ang layo na di ba? (We have a tracer. We really concentrated on this (case) because it went viral and we want to show the public that this kind of thing shoudn’t happen,” he added.

Fajardo said by changing the color of the vehicle, there was a clear intention on the part of the suspect to confuse and escape authorities which is a clear violation of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) law.

He added that the protocol plate Number 8 was not found by authorities when the vehicle was recovered.