That my wife still managed to smile after the incident is understandable: the phone is an old one. Its market value last year when we checked a local store is P1,000. Today, it is probably worth half of that.
The thief was so desperate that he took the risk of landing in jail for a phone worth a few hundred pesos. He probably needed money very badly.
When I learned about the incident, I just prayed that the thief would use his loot to buy food, and not for drugs or vices.
I'm sure there are other similar unreported incidents out there.
There's even this "kind" thief who sent apologize to his victim through text message. He said he needed money. He then instructed her victim to get her IDs and credit cards in a designated place. Hard times causing a rise in criminality?
There's another form of petty crime prevalent nowadays: stealing of metal fences, lampposts, bridge railings, railroad tracks, telephone and cable wires.
Is the rising cost of living to be blamed for this too? Yes, but there's another factor: the high cost of scrap metals. The very strong international demand for recyclable materials has driven prices up.
And since the economic slowdown is a worldwide phenomenon, even a rich nation like the United States is not immune to scrap material theft.
In Northern California for instance, the combination of a slow economy and higher prices for aluminum, cardboard and newsprint, is contributing to the rise in curbside theft.
The robbers, who are better equipped than their Filipino counterparts, have organized into fleets of trucks, sweeping neighborhoods for valuable recyclables.
Same thing is happening in Europe. Record metal prices have also sparked a hunt for recyclable materials or secondary raw materials.
In the process, illegal scrap yards have sprouted. These "junkshops" don't follow legal requirements and are therefore endangering the environment and increasing competition for valuable scrap metals.
The European federation of scrap dealers said the illegal activities are hurting the reputation of their industry.
Like the Midas touch, the scarcity of virgin raw materials is turning trash into gold.
The high cost of recyclable materials even spurred a joke I got in my mailbox last week. Here it is:
Retirement Planning
* If you had purchased US$1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth US$49.00.
* With Enron, you would have had US$16.50 left of the original US$1000.00.
* With WorldCom, you would have had less than US$5.00 left.
* If you had purchased US$1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have US$49.00 left.
* But, if you had purchased US$1,000.00 worth of beer/wine one year ago, drank all the beer/wine, then turned in the cans/bottles for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had US$214.00.
