A dentist in Baguio City was robbed inside his clinic which is located along Dagohoy Street. The Baguio City Police Office is currently investigating the robbery case. The victim has been identified as Dr. Ferrer Dao-ines Comtiag, 52 years old and a resident of barangay Wangal in La Trinidad, Benguet. Dr. Comtiag is originally from the town of Tadian in Mt. Province.
According to a police report, Comtiag was alone in his clinic in Dagohoy St. when a man who disguised himself as a patient entered. The still unidentified suspect then suddenly locked the door of the clinic, whipped out a handgun, and declared a hold-up. The victim wasn't able to get a clear look of the man's face as he was wearing a hat.
After pointing his gun to Dr. Comtiag, the suspect ordered him to lie face-down on the floor. He then took off with the clinic's collection amounting to 16,000 pesos plus a wristwatch worth 8,000 pesos for a total amount of 24,000 pesos.
Before the suspect fled the scene,
he tied the victim's hands as well as stuff a piece of cloth into his
mouth to prevent him from shouting for help. Dr. Comtiag was rescued
when people from a nearby office noticed that the clinic was closed even
though it was clinic hours.
Photo by Lynn Friedman via Flickr. |
This is not the first reported crime in Baguio City concerning robberies held in dental clinics. It can be recalled that several of these crimes also happened last year. It's also common in other urban centers especially in Metro Manila wherein there's a syndicate whose main targets are dental clinics.
Note: An earlier version of this article identified the victim as a female. Dr. Comtiag is a male. Our apologies for the error.