7OMAN KILLS BUSINESS PARTNER INSIDE TAXICAB

A 45-year-old woman was arrested yesterday by Quezon City police operatives after shooting her business partner dead inside a taxicab in Taytay, Rizal.

Lilibeth Bacus, a lending collector, told police that she had no intention to kill retired soldier Nelson Batan whom she accused of cheating her in their lending business.

“Maybe it was devil, it possessed me. I did want to do that,” Bacus said in an interview.

Bacus was arrested inside the taxi where police also found the body of Bathan on E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue in Cubao around noon.

Taxi driver Walter Sabarillo, 42, told reporters at the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) office in Camp Karingal that Bacus and Bathan boarded his taxi at a famous mall on EDSA in Mandaluyong around 6 a.m., and asked to be brought to another mall in Taytay. Bathan sat beside him while Bacus at the back, he said.

Sabarillo recalled that when they arrived at their destination, he heard two successive gunshots coming from his back. He then saw Bathan already dead.

“Ito na ‘yung Land Bank, ‘yung ang huli niyang sinabi, tapos pumutok na,” he told reporters.

Sabarillo said the woman poked the gun at him as she told him to bring her to Cubao. Later, she instructed him to drive straight to E. Rodriguez Ave.

“There’s a dead body inside my taxi, I know she would not let me off alive,” he said.

For fear of his life, Sabarillo said he decided to jump off his cab at the corner of New York Street. The taxi slammed into another vehicle, trapping Bacus inside the cab.

Bacus claimed Bathan had been cheating on her and had not been giving her share. During their oneyear partnership, she said Bathan only gave her twice her share in their profit.

“Nasa isip ko pasukan, panggastos sa mga bata, kaya nainis ako sa kanya kasi dinadaya niya ako,” Bacus, a single mother of three, explained.

Bacus said they were supposed to claim their profit from a bank yesterday and she came with Bathan to make sure she gets her share. She was supposed to receive ₱50,000.

She said the victim was boasting to Sabarillo their business, that’s why she shot him with a .45-caliber pistol. Police said the victim sustained gunshot wounds in the chest and left cheek.

“Naiputok ko na, sa likod niya, naisip ko, ayan na eh, kaya itinuloy ko na sa ulo niya,” she said.

The gun, she said, was owned by Bathan, but he asked her to keep it for him before they headed to the bank. She denied poking the gun at Sabarillo.

Police confirmed that Bathan was a retired enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. They have yet to confirm if the gun was indeed registered to Bathan.

Bacus, who is detained at the CIDU detention cell, said she is ready to face charges that will be filed against her.