BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA

A taxi driver was injured after his passengers stabbed him inside his cab in front of a condominium complex along Galo Street in Bacolod City early morning yesterday.

Donato Cortez Jr., 64, of Purok Sawmill 3, Barangay Bata in the city sustained multiple stab wounds, police said.

He was currently recovering at Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod.

Senior Inspector Mark Joel Reclamado, commander of Police Station 1, said Cortez was almost in the end of his 24-hour shift when two men flagged him down on Gonzaga-Locsin streets.

The men asked him to drive them to Galo Street. Upon reaching the location, the men declared holdup.

But Cortez failed to give them money, prompting the robbers to stab him repeatedly and fled.

A pedicab driver saw the suspects fleeing the crime scene. The driver was also the one who brought Cortez to the hospital.

Reclamado said they already have “persons of interest.” A follow-up operation is already in place, he added./DGB, WDJ