6 nabbed for
qualified theft

Six workers were arrested for allegedly stealing from their employers in Bacolod City during the weekend, the police said yesterday.

Romeo Responso, 40, of Calatrava town, Edwin Estrebela, 18, of Talisay City, Joel Ibañez, 19, of E.B. Magalona town, all in Negros Occidental, and a 17-year-old boy, were nabbed by Police Station 2 members led by PO3 Julius Lagon and PO2 Richard Delasa, at about 2 a.m. Saturday, police records showed.

The four, who are all employees of the Rendezvous Bar at the VYD Building, at 6th-Lacson streets, Bacolod, were apprehended after they admitted to dismantling and stealing 30 meters of electrical wire estimated to be worth P30,000 from the establishment, police reports said.

Delasa said the bar and building management discovered the theft on April 6 after the suspects had already sold the wires to a junkshop in Marapara, Brgy. Villamonte, Bacolod, on March 12 for P3,500.

However, the supervisors did not immediately report the incident to them until the wiring plan of the structure had been checked by members of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative last week, Delasa added.

The delay resulted in the loss of any fingerprints that the four may have left on the building and prevented the officers from recovering the items from the junkshop, he said.

Delasa also said that because their employers had reported the incident to them late, they had to release the four from custody briefly after their arrest. However, they will file qualified theft charges against them at the City Prosecutor’s Office today.

Meanwhile, Rey Atienza, 30, of Brgy. Ma-ao, Bago City, was endorsed by his employer, Philip Yap, to Police Station 2 for allegedly conspiring with Robert Egaran, 28, of Purok Sambag, Brgy. Mandalagan, Bacolod, in stealing 11 sacks of fertilizers, at about 5 p.m. Friday.

Yap, 57, told the police that he discovered the pilferage after the sacks were transferred from a ship to his truck driven by Atienza at the Bacolod Realty Development Corp. at the Reclamation Area in Bacolod, at about 3 a.m. on the same day.

The sacks of fertilizer, worth P13,200, were allegedly loaded by Atienza on the truck of Egaran and were later sold to the latter’s employer, Leo Flaviano, at Sto Niño Stop, Brgy. 2, Bacolod, for P6,600, police reports said.

Atienza said he agreed with Egaran to steal the merchandise to earn extra money because they only made small amounts as commissions for the rent of their employers’ trucks.

Egaran was not detained, Atienza said, because the items were stolen from his truck and because they were later returned by Flaviano.

Atienza said he is hoping to settle the matter with Yap.*PP

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Serve public
courteously

Police officers have been ordered again to serve what he called their “customers” with more courtesy and respect to avoid bringing more “denigration” to the Philippine National Police, Bacolod City Police Office director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, said yesterday.

In an April 4 memorandum, Quebrar directed his 10 station commanders to take immediate corrective measures if their personnel are acting like the officers noted by Philippine Navy researcher, Karina Antonette Agudo in her recent article.

“Similar incidents drag the name of the PNP into further denigration,” Quebrar said.

The article denounced the “irrelevant questions” of the officers, who interviewed her at a police station in Metro Manila where, she said, she was also “discouraged” from filing charges against the person who physically attacked her.

Quebrar said cops should extend more courtesy and respect to the public, particularly, those who seek assistance in police stations.

Agudo’s experience, Quebrar said, is among the reasons why many people lodge their complaints directly to the Office of the President, the Department of Interior and Local government, media outlets, politicians, and higher PNP offices instead of the proper venues, which are the police stations.*PP

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