Manila: Sometimes a peso in the pocket could be worth more than its weight in gold. Marlon Manuel, a former election official, came to that realisation when a single coin stopped a bullet from injuring his leg.
A recent report by the Bombo Radyo dzGR from northern Philippines' Tuguegarao said Manuel, a former official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the town of Amulung in Cagayan, was walking to his home in Leonarda village late at night, when a man with a pistol suddenly approached him and declared a stick up.
Caught off guard, Manuel had no choice but to give to the robber the money he had with him which amounted to more than P5,000 ((Dh 423.28).
Not content with the cash, the man demanded that Manuel hand him the laptop he was carrying as well as the licence for a firearm he had in his pocket. The victim refused and at this point, the robber fired off a warning shot to scare Manuel.
The bullet hit Manuel in the leg and all that he could do was close his eyes and anticipate the incoming injury. But to his surprise he felt no pain, instead he found out that the bullet had hit his pocket and glanced off, without injuring him. The thief allowed Manuel to keep the coin as a souvenir. For Manuel, the peso saved something more than its weight in gold — his own skin, literally.
