Saturday, July 12, 2008 Sulpicio mishap victims’ kin lose precious items
ASIDE from losing their loved ones to the mv Princess of the Stars tragedy, some relatives of the victims staying at the YMCA dormitories complain of having lost their personal belongings as well.
Chris Caparoso, executive director of YMCA, told reporters that a pair of shoes, a digital camera, a cellular phone and charger, and a pair of pants have been stolen.
Caparoso said they have identified the suspect, a 17-year-old.
The minor was billeted at the YMCA dormitories with other out-of-town families last Sunday.
Caparoso said the minor and his other roommates in room 302 were “restless” and “could not sleep” on the first night.
“I jokingly told them to drink a bottle of beer outside the compound and then go to sleep,” said Caparoso.
Hermano and his roommates decided to follow Caparoso’s suggestion and ended up drinking outside the YMCA compound.
Caparoso said that on the second night of their stay at the dormitories, he noted the boy acting strange.
“He wanted to play basketball but we told him he couldn’t do so since he had no shoes and there was no basketball,” said Caparoso.
The boy replied he would buy a basketball and a new pair of shoes so that he could play basketball.
By Wednesday lunchtime, YMCA staff was surprised to see the boy carrying a pair of shoes in a plastic bag.
“He asked where the nearest shoe repair shop was,” said Caparoso.
By 4:30 p.m., Caparoso said, one of the boy’s roommates approached them to complain that his shoes had been stolen.
Caparoso suspected it was the boy who took the shoes.
Later in the afternoon, another roommate of the boy approached them saying somebody had stolen his pair of pants, his cellular phone and charger, and his digital camera.
They again suspected it was the boy.
But questions on the boy’s identity and mental health arose when the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7 received reports that the boy was an impostor.
Earlier, Sun.Star Cebu reported in its July 7 issue about the boy losing his entire family to the mv Princess of the Stars sinking.
The boy told DSWD that his mother was a certain Edna Hermosa. But he told Sun.Star that his mother’s name was Maricel.
“We were told by DSWD in National Capital Region that he was an impostor,” said Graca Yana of DWSD.
DSWD NCR visited the home address of Hermano, only to find Edna Hermano alive and well.
And Edna was an 18-year-old girl who did not know the boy.
The DSWD is looking for the minor to get his side of the story. The boy has yet to return to YMCA. (EPB)
