Saturday, November 05, 2005
3 thefts reported in south reclamation
Just three weeks after the court ordered Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to open the Cebu South Coastal Road to the public, police already reported three thefts in the South Reclamation Project.
Only one thief was arrested, and the two latest incidents happened less than 24 hours apart, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) records show.
About P18,000 in goods was lost yesterday, when thieves escaped with about 100 kilograms of power cables. These contain bronze that could sell for P180 per kilo, said Christopher Ong of the City Treasurer’s Office.
Ong, a former Pasil barangay councilor, said a barangay official had tipped him yesterday of the loot of Arce Villamia, a resident of Pasil.
Ong said barangay tanods saw Villamia flee in a trisikad with two sacks containing the cables past 6 a.m. yesterday.
After informing the mayor of the incident, Ong and a CIIB team, led by CIIB Chief Pablo Labra II, checked on Villamia in Barangays Pasil and Ermita.
But the suspect escaped.
According to an ABS-CBN report, the group checked junk shops to find out if the suspect had sold the wires.
Labra said the cables were important because they served as power lines to the viaduct, one of the portions of the coastal road.
He said they are worried that theft and looting would worsen once the SCR is opened to the public.
“We lack men. If we concentrate on the SRP, we will have a problem with the coastal road because we don’t have enough personnel. But we have to make do with what we have,” he said yesterday.
Ong, for his part, said these are the risks of opening the coastal road to the public even if it is not yet completed.
Labra said they found out that the thieves hide inside the SRP before the coastal road is closed at 7 p.m. They strike later in the night and jump into the sea, where pump boats await them.
According to CIIB records, a team led by SPO1 Filomeno Mendaros responded to a theft alarm after a caller reported to their office that a man was found removing PVC pipes under the bridge past 11 a.m. Thursday.
Police arrested Joel Balawit, 22, of Barangay Mambaling, for stealing three PVC pipes worth P3,500.
He will also be facing charges for possession of shabu paraphernalia since police confiscated from him five pieces of rolled tinfoil.
Balawit, according to the police, is a “self-confessed” drug user. (CYR)
(November 5, 2005 issue)
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