AUTHORITIES in Barangay Banilad, Mandaue City, Cebu urged citizens to boost home security after a thief stole a resident's bicycle from a compound on AS Fortuna Street in the early hours of Saturday, March 2, 2024.
In an interview with the media on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, Greg Yap, barangay captain of Banilad and owner of the compound, said the thief entered the compound on foot around 1 a.m. Saturday and left the area on a bicycle an hour later.
The incident was captured by the compound's closed circuit television (CCTV) camera.
Yap said that based on the CCTV footage, the thief, with the bike, headed toward Foodland and to Banilad in Cebu City.
He said the thief shown in the footage appeared to be in his early 20s.
The stolen bike was a mountain bike that belonged to one of the compound's renters. Yap was uncertain about its model or whether it was new.
The average price range of entry-level mountain bikes is around P26,000 to P56,000, while high-end models can cost up to P160,000, according to bicycle-reclaim magazine Medium.
Yap said the bike was stored in one of the garages on the premises and was easily accessible to the thief due to the residents' complacency regarding the safety of the area.
He said the residents there had never encountered such incidents before.
Yap believes that the thief may have been mistaken for one of the renters, the reason he gained easy entry to the compound.
"Murag nahog lang sya nga ningsulod lang, wa kaayo ma sita kay wa ta kahibaw lage'g unsay tuyo kay di man sad nato sitahon kay basin palang kung kuan kay nag rent lang," said Yap.
(Since we didn't know his intentions, we hadn't properly reprimanded him. He may just be one of the renters.)
Yap said he attempted to verify with the victim if the perpetrator could be someone they knew, but the victim had no knowledge of the thief.
As a result, he decided to share the incident on the Barangay Banilad's Facebook page for public awareness.
Yap advised the public to remain vigilant as theft incidents have been reported in various parts of Cebu, not just in Banilad. (HIC)