Mlang to honor gasoline boy for his heroic act

MLANG, North Cotabato -- An alert gas attendant of a Petro mini-gas station in Barangay Pag-asa here has become an instant celebrity for foiling a robbery incident Tuesday afternoon.Mlang Mayor Joselito Pinol said the unidentified gasoline pump boy will be recognized by the local governmentfor his heroic acts. He will be honored not because he killed someone but because he protected the company he was working with, Pinol told Radyo Bida Kidapawan inthe vernacular. Isog bah, wa'ay siya armas nakapatay pa siya duha (he was so brave, unarmed yet he managed to kill two), said a resident of Mlang.Police said at about 3 p.m. three men riding on a motorbike arrived at the gas station along Makilala-mlang-Tulunan highway.The gas boy, named in the report as Isko, noticed the three acting suspiciously as they arrived at the gas filling station.Isko told police he distanced himself from the gas pump so he could see the movement of the suspects, identified later as Antonio Benitez of Quimco Street, Kidapawan City, Jarred Fulgencio of Libertad, Makilala and Adrian Lalen of Makilala, all in North Cotabato.He said he then entered the cashiers booth and directed the cashier to move away quietly. Suspect Benitez, armed with a hand gun, approached the booth and declared hold-up. He took some P5,000 cash.As the trio boarded the motorbike to leave, Isko barged outside the cashier's booth and grabbed the hand gun of Benitez. He used it to shoot the suspect in the head, killing him instantly.Isko also shot Fulgencio and fell. Lalen, the motorbike driver and also wounded, escaped by running. He was later flagged down at a militia detachment a kilometer away and recovered the P5,000 cash he was carrying.Responding policemen and village defenders rushed Fulgencio to a hospital in Kidapawan City but expired at about 8 p.m.Lalen is still in a hospital in Kidapawan under police watch.