Valenzuela City Mayor Wes Gatchalian assured a cycling enthusiast that his city will investigate a road rage incident involving a sports utility vehicle (SUV) driver who threatened someone with a handgun.
Lawyer and cyclist Raymond Fortun on Tuesday, September 5 shared footage from a dashcam that recorded a Toyota Fortuner driver alighting from his vehicle and confronting a man with a firearm.
Fortun claimed that the incident occurred on August 19 at Barangay Bignay in Valenzuela,
The SUV driver was seen cocking his pistol as he walked towards a man with a green shirt. A parked taxi can also be seen on the side of the road.
The driver pushed the man, causing the latter to move backward.
The man later held the door of the driver’s side of the taxi after the driver had walked away. However, the man did not board the taxi.
“ANOTHER [ROAD RAGE] INCIDENT, KINASAHAN ULIT NG BARIL,” Fortun wrote on Facebook on September 5.
“THESE INCIDENTS WILL KEEP HAPPENING UNLESS OUR LAWS ARE SUFFICIENT TO PROTECT THE CITIZENRY. Senators and Congressmen, your country needs you,” he added.
“LTO, please do your duty. Thank you,” Fortun said, referring to the Land Transportation Office.
The incident happened 11 days after the viral road rage incident in Quezon City wherein dismissed cop Wilfredo Gonzales brandished his handgun at a cyclist in a bike lane.
Fortun is among those who are closely following Gonzales’ case as a cyclist and as a Filipino citizen.
RELATED: Questions on hiring emerge as SC terminates gun-toting ex-cop in road rage video
The lawyer recently filed a case against three personnel of the Quezon City Police District over their handling of the incident, accusing them of oppression, irregularities in the performance of duties and incompetence.
READ: ‘Mariing kinokondena’: How QC gov’t responded to gun-toting driver in road rage incident
Meanwhile, Gatchalian saw the recent footage that allegedly occurred in his city and commented that they would “seek the assistance of the dash cam owner to aid our police in the investigation.”
“Hello Atty. Raymond, I already instructed VCPD to investigate this matter. I will make sure that he [or] she will be apprehended,” the city chief wrote in another comment.
VCPD refers to the Valenzuela City Police District.
Owning a firearm in the Philippines requires one to obtain a firearms license and be at least 21 years old.
Applicants for a firearms license must undergo a thorough background check, which includes a review of their criminal, mental and medical records.