Another burglary at the Palace of Justice

Over a week after a janitor ransacked the evidence room of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office, another burglary rocked the Palace of Justice.

This time it was the steel cabinet at the evidence room of the Regional Trial Court branch 15 containing shabu, which are being used as evidence of the various drug cases pending in the said court.

RTC branch 15, which is located at the third floor, is presided by Judge Fortunato de Gracia, Jr.

It is one of the drug courts in Cebu as designated by the Supreme Court.

De Gracia, however, said that based on their initial inventory, there was no piece of evidence or document missing because the perpetrator only managed to open one of the drawers of the steel cabinet.

Nevertheless, de Gracia still requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the case and possibly identify the culprit or culprits. De Gracia did not also rule out that some of his court personnel might be involved.

NBI agents headed by Hermie Monsanto have already taken the fingerprints of all the 13 personnel at RTC branch 15 to compare them with the prints that they have lifted from the crime scene.

De Gracia also volunteered to have his fingerprint samples taken.

"Kaming tanan maoy suspect ani," judge De Gracia told The Freeman.

Aside from De Gracia's staff, the janitors and the security guards of the building are also subject of the investigation. In fact, all the janitors employed by Excellent Janitorial Services were invited to the NBI office yesterday for a polygraph examination.

The court employees will have their turn to take the lie detector test next week.

This early, the NBI is keen on following the leads about two suspects. No further details were however provided since it could affect the outcome of the investigation.

The NBI agents are puzzled as to how the burglar managed to get inside the evidence room without destroying any door lock.

Before a person can get inside the evidence room, he needs to pass the main door and then there are two more doors leading to the judge's chamber.

When the court personnel reported back to their work after the holiday break on December 27, a female court staff observed that the second drawer of the steel cabinet at the evidence room was not completely closed, although she just ignored it.

But when she shared her observation to her fellow personnel yesterday, the senior court staffers quickly inspected the steel cabinet and observed that there was an indication that it was forcibly opened.

It was learned that some of the important pieces of evidence at the RTC branch 15 are placed in different vaults and steel cabinets.

Security guards said they did not notice any outsiders who may have entered the building during the Christmas holiday.

When the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor's Office was ransacked by Bryant Baguio, a janitor assigned at the Palace of Justice by Excellent Janitorial Services, he stole six handguns and four hand grenades from the evidence room. The stolen items however were quickly recovered by the NBI a day after the burglary was discovered.

The NBI agents under Medardo de Lemos solved the first burglary two weeks ago after they apprehended Baguio when he admitted to the crime during investigation.

Baguio confessed that he was the one who ransacked and stole firearms and grenades from the evidence room of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors' Office located at the ground floor of the four-storey Palace of Justice Building.

After the two burglary incidents, RTC executive judge Simeon Dumdum, Jr. ordered that no court employees are allowed to stay in the building after 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon unless they have prior written permission from the presiding judge of the court that they serve.