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Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Thieves tunnel into shop, take P.5-P1M
CEBU -- Tenants renting a space beside a pawnshop on M.J. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City allegedly fled with about P1 million worth of cash and jewelry.
Employees of Agencia Mejor on M.J. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City were surprised to see a hole in the concrete wall of their office and the vault open Monday. They realized the items were missing at 8 a.m.
They learned that a couple had rented a space beside the pawnshop a month earlier. The couple can no longer be found.
Found in the space next to the pawnshop were two tanks of acetylene, a crowbar, a flashlight and a bolt cutter.
A bag, half a loaf of bread, several bottles of mineral water and a can of pineapple juice were also recovered there by the Scene of the Crime Operations (Soco).
Building owner Lourdes Sala told police investigators a Rico Manglapus approached her a month ago to ask if he could rent the space beside the pawnshop so he and his wife could put up a beauty parlor.
Manglapus gave P21,000 as down payment, good for three months’ rent, so he could start cleaning up.
Manglapus, who said he was from Dumaguete City, also claimed to be a relative of the late senator Raul Manglapus.
If indeed the couple was behind the loss, the modus operandi is not new.
Hole
Three months ago, a couple also rented a room right above the Prime Asia Pawnshop in Punta Princesa and bore a hole into the floor to get to their target. Using acetylene, they opened the pawnshop’s vault and took an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry.
Police investigators believe the same couple was behind yesterday’s burglary. Owner Francisco Jarque said cash and jewelry amounting to P500,000 to P1 million were taken from the vault.
He said the jewelry kept in the vault were all pawned by their customers.
He could not give an exact yet amount until an inventory is conducted.
The burglars did not touch the other appliances inside.
Jarque admitted they only had one security guard at the pawnshop during the day and none at night.
He has been occupying the building for nine years now and it was the first heist pulled on him.
Neighbors
He said he heard about the Prime Asia pawnshop robbery last Feb. 20, but never thought the same thing could happen to them.
“We cannot control who our neighbors are,” he told reporters Monday.
Jarque revealed that Sala often called them up to check if the new tenants ever came to visit the space they rented.
He never saw the couple drop by. His employees, who worked from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., also did not see the couple.
Last Sunday, however, they closed at 4 p.m.
Security guard Feliciano Samson, 30, said the culprits could have worked late in the night until dawn.
SPO1 Ruel del Socorro of the Waterfront Police Station said Sala trusted Manglapus because he looked very decent.
He said Manglapus was between 30 and 34 years old, and claimed that his wife was from Mandaue City.
Sala, though, had not seen his (Manglapus’) wife. MEA
(May 27, 2003 issue)
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