Pinoy men in black rob bus in Mandaluyong

It was like a scene from the Hollywood movie with the men smartly dressed in black. However, unlike in the movie, the four men who boarded a bus in Mandaluyong were not heroes. The "Will Smith-wannabes" were robbers. The four men, wearing black jackets and armed with .45 caliber pistols, declared a holdup in passenger bus in Mandaluyong City before noon on Friday. Radio dzBB's Denver Trinidad reported that the men pulled off the holdup in less than a minute, before fleeing and boarding other buses after the heist. "Hindi sila mukhang holdaper, mukhang pulis, itim na jacket na parang pulis (They did not look like robbers. They looked more like policemen because of their black jackets)," said one of the passengers identified only as Mang Roger. The incident occurred inside a Philippine Corinthian bus (with plate number NYL-191) near the Crossing area in Mandaluyong City. Mandaluyong City police deployed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to track down the robbers. Roger said he lost P6,000 cash, which he was planning to send to his sick mother through a courier service firm. "E dito naman, hirap talaga naakyatan kami ng holdaper yung apat (It was dumb luck. I had to run into these bus robbers)," he said. He said that after divesting at least 12 passengers of their valuables, the men got off the bus, went their separate ways and boarded other buses. The robbery came after Metro Manila police vowed to step up security against robbers as the Christmas season approaches. –VVP, GMANews.TV