Marikina cop’s heroics reap praise

‘Lucky’ officer thwarts road robbers while off-duty–for 3rd time

By Niña Calleja
Philippine Daily Inquirer

10:26 pm | Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Once was enough, twice was too much—but thwarting highway robbers while off-duty for the third time in his life finally earned some accolades for Senior Police Officer 2 Herbert Salazar Baylon.

Officials of the Eastern Police District are all praises for the Marikina City police officer who shot dead one of the two men who declared a holdup on a passenger bus travelling on Edsa on Monday night.

But what made Baylon, 39, stand out was his peculiar experience of being caught in a road robbery thrice while commuting to or from work.

Before Monday’s incident, he also shot a robber who terrorized his fellow jeepney passengers in Cubao, Quezon City, in 2003. Last year, again he encountered an armed robber on a jeepney and arrested him after a foot chase.

EPD director Chief Supt. Miguel Laurel said “we will submit a recommendation for (Baylon’s) promotion. He risked his life and did what he thought was the right thing to do even if he was off-duty.” “He chose to go above and beyond the call of duty,” Laurel said in an Inquirer interview.