MANILA, Philippines -  A Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) mail delivery van loaded with local and international mail was hijacked Friday morning.

Philpost officer-in-charge Postmaster General and CEO Atty. Antonio de Guzman told reporters that the van's driver Edward Bernabe and courier Eduardo Balanag were dropped off at around 6 a.m. by the hijackers in barangay Biga, Silang, Cavite.

The van, a Suzuki white delivery van with plate number SGV-238, was en route to Laguna from the Philpost main office in Manila when it was hijacked.

No other details of the hijacking were given pending information from driver and courier.

De Guzman said it was the 6th hijacking incident of Philpost mail delivery vans in 2 years. The last hijacking prior to today's incident happened before Christmas of last year.

De Guzman also revealed the hijackers use high-powered firearms, which is why Philpost security escorts, armed only with short firearms, are a no match.

De Guzman said the past hijacking incidents are mostly in the Cavite-Laguna areas.

Philpost sought the help of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, taking advantage of a memorandum of agreement-signing between the Philippine Postal Corporation and the Department of Justice today for the delivery of DOJ mails.

The justice chief took cognizance of the incident and asked Philport to submit a list of unresolved past hijacking incidents.

"Madalas pala ang insidente ng hijacking but sad to say all these years walang nahuhuli at napo-prosecute. I'm requesting from Philpost to give me a list of those unresolved incidents and I will ask NBI to investigate para ma-resolve," de Lima said.

"They hijack because there is something valuable in the mail. Can you imagine the damage? That is a serious crime actually but hindi napagtutuunan ng pansin kaya walang nahuhuli."

The justice chief suspects a syndicate is behind the modus especially since firearms were used in the heist.

"Our law enforcers should be able to focus on finding the people behind these criminal incidents," de Lima said.

Philpost wants an end to the hijacking of their delivery vans. Aside from the inconvenience caused on the public, Philpost has to pay an indemnity of at least P8,000 per parcel lost and P2,800 for documents.

In the pre-Christmas hijacking, Philpost shelled out P3 million to the addressees.