Tuesday, April 08, 2008 Shopper sues department store
A MAN filed a criminal complaint against a department store last week, claiming he was detained against his will in 2005 over allegations that he was a shoplifter.
Roger Tio, in the belated complaint prepared by lawyer Rodulfo Dacalos
Jr. of the Escasinas, Partners and Co., said he suffered hypertension due to his experience at the store.
He said the incident placed him in “public ridicule” and degraded him.
He didn’t mention about indemnification in the complaint filed before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor. But, in the affidavit, he mentioned businessman Patrick Ngochua, the store manager.
Tio, a resident of Mabolo, Cebu City, said the incident happened on July 31, 2005. He had just been to the Sacred Heart Church to attend mass at around 5:30 p.m. and decided to buy some personal items.
Grocery items
He said he passed by a small sari-sari store outside the church and bought some snacks for himself. He also bought a bottle of deodorant, a bottle of shampoo and a lighter.
As the store didn’t have the other items he needed, he decided to walk towards the department store along Gen. Maxilom Ave. for a bottle of alcohol, baby oil, cotton and a pair of scissors.
He said he found what he was looking for and paid at the counter. When the cashier’s assistant was about to place them in the grocery bag, Tio asked for a larger bag so he could also place the items he got from the sari-sari store outside.
He said the clerk declined and said the store’s employees could get into trouble if they give out bags for items not bought from the store.
Tio didn’t insist. But as he was about to leave the store, two persons stopped him and told him he didn’t pay for some of the items he was carrying.
He was “forcibly brought” inside one of the establishment’s offices for “investigation.” And while on the way there, he saw other customers looking at him, whispering to each other that he could be a shoplifter.
Chinese manager
“I was so embarrassed that I could not look straight into anyone present in the store; my blood pressure went very high and I told the accuser that I am Chinese and I requested for a Chinese manager (to speak with),” he said.
He said he repeatedly explained that the items they found with him came from a sari-sari store outside. But they wouldn’t listen to him, he said.
He asked that a representative from the store accompany him to the sari-sari store to confirm the purchase, but his request was ignored.
“Later, a personnel came to me and asked me to sign a ready-made form admitting my guilt in exchange for not charging me,” he said. He was then asked to pay 10 times the amount of the items.
“I was finally released at almost 8:30 in the evening but the items which I previously bought from the sari-sari store were not released due to my refusal to sign the aforesaid pre-printed form,” he maintained. (KNR0
