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Thursday, November 24, 2005
P2M worth of items stolen, manager reports to police
THE Cebu City Government has lost close to P2 million in materials and accessories that were allegedly stolen from the Cebu South Coastal Road.
Engineer Nigel Paul Villarete, manager of the South Reclamation Project (SRP) where the road traverses, through his representative Felicito Josol, filed a report before the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) last Monday afternoon based on the Nov. 14 inventory report on the stolen materials and accessories.
From Channel 2 Bridge up to the last steel post of center island approaching the viaduct, a total of P89,272 worth of materials and accessories were stolen.
In the viaduct, a component of the coastal road, the inventory revealed that thieves took P1,739,239 worth of materials and accessories.
The stolen items were mostly assorted circuit breakers, pipes, wires, caps and a stainless pull box.
Acting Cebu City Police Director Melvin Gayotin said that even before the reopening of the coastal road last October, he already expected that looting in the area will occur because “anything that will be open to the public is susceptible to thieves.”
Supt. Pablo Labra II, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB), in a separate interview, said he also raised the same concern earlier.
Gayotin and Labra said CIIB policemen are patrolling the area but considering that there are only few of them, thieves managed to take the materials and accessories.
At present, only 16 policemen, divided into four shifts, are assigned to do 24-hour patrols in the SRP.
Labra was among those who recommended to Mayor Tomas Osmeña to close the road due to petty crimes in the area.
He had said that fixtures in the Sugbu building and early warning devices on the roads were stolen and sold to junk shops.
Last Oct. 17, Regional Trial Court Judge Soliver Peras had ordered the Cebu City Government to “remove all obstacles at the coastal road and to cease and desist” from preventing all motorists from passing the road, at least from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Lawyer Alfredo Sipalay had filed a civil suit against Mayor Osmeña, Villarete and City Administrator Francisco Fernandez after the road was closed last April 8.
Before the court order, only vehicles with special passes were allowed to use the road that made the trip to southern Cebu faster, as motorists could skip passing through the usually congested N. Bacalso Ave. and the Cebu South Road.
But Sipalay argued that the City Government does not have the authority to close the coastal road, as it is owned by the National Government.
City Hall has filed a motion for reconsideration on the court order. (JST)
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