A job order employee was terminated after he was tagged as one of the suspects who ransacked the Annex Building of Bacolod City Government Center on Monday.
Executive Assistant Celestino Guara, cluster head on peace and order and police matters, said on Friday that Peter John Denosta of Public Order and Safety Office (Poso) admitted that he stole the computer set and accessories inside the Annex Building.
Denosta, who was terminated Thursday, was the guard reliever of Justin Grandea and John Mark Escalon on Monday.
Guara said a follow-up operation was conducted by personnel of Poso where they recovered the computer set and amplifier in the area of Barangay 35.
He said a resident of Barangay 35, who bought the stolen items, turned over the computer set to their village chief Elizabeth Baker.
The buyer, who requested anonymity, told Guara that he purchased the items from Denosta in the amount of P4,200.
He found the files of the City Government in the computer, and when he learned that it was stolen unit, he surrendered it to Baker, Guara said.
The police earlier said that Denosta and casual employee Judith Dadivas discovered at about 7 a.m. that the back door of the Annex Building, where the one-stop-shop for business permit processing is being held, was already open and some items worth P70,000 were missing. There was no forced entry.
Guara said Denosta admitted that he had four companions, one of them a utility worker of BGC.
He added that he will turn over the case to Police Station 4 for the filing of charges against Denosta.
Denosta, who was hired in December 2016, was formerly assigned at the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.
Guara said they were still conducting a follow-up operation to recover the remaining items.*