Tuesday, January 22, 2008 Dalawampu loses valuables worth P58T to pickpockets
LAWYER Gloria Lastimosa-Dalawampu lost P58,000 worth of cash, checks and other valuables to pickpockets while she was attending the Sinulog Solemn Procession last Saturday.
Dalawampu yesterday said the theft must have happened while she was in deep prayer because she didn’t feel anything. She only noticed her loss when she opened her bag to get a handkerchief.
She recalled being bumped several times as the huge crowd of devotees reached the gates of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño.
Operatives of the Crimes Against Property desk of the Cebu City Police Office arrested five people – four women and one man – that day.
But little did SPO2s Edgardo Galado and Filemon Velarde, PO2 Pompe Tañajura and PO3 Jeffrey Diola knew that they had apparently collared the same people who victimized Dalawampu moments earlier.
In an affidavit, the policemen said they merely invited the group to their headquarters for questioning after they recognized one of them – Juvy Montalban – who they said is a “known pickpocket” and goes by the name Juvy Nuñez.
Establish
The others were identified as Jomar Alvarez, Richell Sanchez, Karen Cruz and Lorena Salve.
The policemen were only able to establish the connection when they went through the things that the group had with them.
Theft charges were filed against the four persons before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor yesterday. They signed a waiver of detention before the Office of the Public Attorney and were given 10 days to submit a counter-affidavit to Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Victor Laborte.
Check
Among the evidence against the suspects is the affidavit of the policemen, a wallet containing the automated teller machine cards of Raul Matuguinas, a check for P30,000 drawn in the name of “Gloria Dalawampu Lastimosa” and receipts under the name of Editha Mendoza.
Dalawampu, in an interview, said she joined the procession with two members of her staff but none of them noticed anything.
Immediately after the procession, she went to her office along Gorordo Ave. to see if she didn’t merely leave her belongings there.
She said she received a call from one Alfred Delantar, a security guard at the Basilica, informing her that he’d found her wallet at the church’s comfort room.
She said she left for the Basilica to claim her wallet.
Minutes later she received a call from the police informing her of the arrest of the suspects and the check that they recovered.
Dalawampu went to the Crimes Against Property desk yesterday where Sr. Inspector Michael Bastes, the unit chief, showed her the suspects.
Dalawampu recognized them as among those who bumped into her during the procession. (KNR)
