A SANITATION worker for a food manufacturing firm in Compostela town was arrested after he tried to sneak out a bottle of chlorine worth P61 from their plant on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022.

When local police asked him why he committed the crime, Florito Pelit, 28, said he only did so because he wanted to disinfect the rainwater stored in the concrete tank in his residence so it can be used by his two children.

SunStar Cebu withholds the name of the firm pending its comment.

Lt. Andrew Rellanos, Compostela Police Station chief, said Pelit, a resident of Barangay Don Gregorio Antigua, Borbon town, was about to go home after his work when Jubert Luchavez, the firm’s security guard, conducted a routine inspection on their exiting employees at 5:11 p.m.

Upon checking Pelit’s belongings, Luchavez found a bottle of chlorine hidden in the former’s lunchbox.

The bottle of chlorine was believed to have been stolen from the firm’s housekeeping department, where Pelit is employed.

Rellanos said when they confronted Pelit, the latter became emotional and sought for his employer’s forgiveness.

Upon hearing Pelit’s reason, Rellanos even offered the firm to pay the P61 for the bottle of chlorine.

Despite the police official’s gesture, officials of the food manufacturing firm is reportedly determined to sue Pelit.

“Naluoy pud mi niya kay dunay mga anak. Gamiton lang daw ang chlorine sa gipundong tubig sa uwan. Mitabang mi sa paghangyo nga bayaran ang P61 pesos nga chlorine, pero wala mosugot ang management,” Rellanos said.

(We took pity on him as he has two children. He said he would use the chlorine for the rainwater stored in their concrete rainwater storage tank. We even helped him ask the company to allow him to pay for the P61 chlorine, but the management refused.)

Pelit is set to be charged for qualified theft. Rolly Caburnay, the firm’s head of security, will serve as complainant.

This was not the first time that the firm had encountered such an incident.

Caburnay told SunStar Cebu that in the past, one of their employees was also sued by the company for stealing hotdogs worth P30 just as he was about to leave work.

The employee offered to pay for hotdogs he had stolen but the the company refused the gesture.