Thieves victimize Daluz, town police Chief

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Councilor Jose Daluz III, who pushed for the installation of security cameras, fell victim to a thief yesterday who stole his bag with an expensive Ipad while a police chief lost his firearm to a burglar who broke into his house Monday.

Daluz was having a luncheon meeting with City Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez and other engineers of the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) inside a grill and restaurant along M.J. Cuenco corner Legaspi Extension.

He wanted to discuss with the city engineers the development of various infrastructure projects that are being implemented within the different barangays.

Daluz placed his bag on top of a vacant chair beside him. The bag contained his Ipad, a check book and some important documents.

He was about to get some documents from the bag when Daluz found it was no longer there.

“Sa sinugdanan nagtoo gani ko nga gikomedyahan ra ko nila nga gitagoan ang akong bag, apan wala man g’yud kuno sila magkuha.” (I thought they were playing a joke on me but they insisted they were not).

Daluz quickly asked for police assistance and they reviewed the footage of the CCTV.

Shown in the footage was a man clad in jeans, T-shirt and a hat. The man sat at a vacant table at the back of Daluz while drinking bottled water. Later, the man slowly used his toes to move the chair with the councilor’s bag.

“Grabe lagi kaayo kay wala g’yud makabantay hasta ang mga engineer nga akong gika-meeting,” Daluz narrated. (We never noticed anything, not even the engineers I was with).

The man quickly took the bag and placed it inside his knapsack before leaving the place.

Late yesterday afternoon, Daluz got an information that somebody recovered his bag but the Ipad worth P30,000 was no longer there.

In another incident, the chief of the Carmen Police Station lost his issued firearm to an unidentified burglar who broke into his house Monday midnight while he was sleeping in Sitio Langlang, Barangay Cogon, Danao City.

Chief Insp. Jason Mangaron was deep in sleep with his wife when the burglar got in through the window at the back portion of the house by taking out three jalousie blades.

The burglar carted away his 9mm pistol, two fully-loaded magazines and his cellular phone that were placed on the table beside him.

It was around 2:00 a.m. when his wife woke up and noticed the damaged window. She woke Mangaron up, who immediately searched for his pistol but failed to find it.

“Napasarap ‘yung tulog niya kaya hindi namalayan na nawala na ‘yung armas niya,” said Supt. Ricky Delelis, Danao City police chief.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Patrocinio Comendador is coordinating with the Danao police regarding the matter.

On Mangaron’s liability for the loss, the Police Regional Office 7’s Board of Survey will determine if there was negligence on the part of Mangaron.

“I cannot say there was negligence because there are some incidents that are beyond our control but I will leave the decision to the board,” Comendador said in a phone interview.  - /JPM (FREEMAN)