CEBU, Philippines - At least 18 stolen images of Sr. Sto. Niño and one icon of Blessed Virgin Mary were recovered yesterday following the arrest of the man who was tagged as the suspect behind the theft that happened on the stalls beside the Basilica del Sto. Niño on Thursday.
Operatives of the City Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office arrested Joel Sargento, a resident of Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Pasil and recovered from him the stolen items.
Owners of the five stalls that were burglarized on Thursday earlier reported the incident to Waterfront Police Station but gave three different names of suspects.
The five victims are Pierre Angelie Sapanta, 42, of Lower Acacia, Pardo Cebu City; Josephine Amora, 34, and Grace Amora, 50, both from Mambaling Cebu City; Conrada Bariñan, 29, of Pungtod Alaska Mambaling and Merlinda Batiller, 42.
Police who investigated the incident said the five discovered the break-in at 8 a.m. It was believed the theft happened at night or dawn while it was raining.
CIB operatives traced and arrested Sargento after receiving information from concerned citizens that they saw the stolen icons at the house of the suspect in Pasil.
But Sargento denied he stole the items, saying he just bought them from Ralph Polisan, Benjamin Borromeo, and a certain Ralph that Thursday morning.
A witness said Sargento was the driver of the trisikad that thieves used during the crime.
Police are yet to trace the whereabouts of Sargento’s accomplices.
Meanwhile, an alleged drug addict was arrested after he robbed passengers of a PUJ near the Cebu City Hall in Barangay Sto. Niño Thursday afternoon.
Michael Sansan, 35, of Barangay Ermita, was arrested less than 24 hours after he robbed passengers of a jeepney plying the route Lahug to Colon at almost 4 p.m.
After the robbery, one of the victims, Kenneth Paluz, 23, reported the incident to the police.
Personnel of the Theft and Robbery Section led by SPO3 Ernesto Panaligan arrested the suspect in Barangay Ermita at 4 a.m. the following day. The cellular phone he stole from Paluz was recovered.
The jeepney was bound for Lahug when the suspect, who was with an accomplice, pointed an undetermined caliber of gun and declared a hold-up.
TRS chief, Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, said a member of the Barangay Intelligence Network, luckily spotted the suspects who were familiar to him and monitored them while onboard a taxi. Right after the robbery, he informed the police.
Sansan admitted he was released from the Cebu City Jail last February for robbery case. — (FREEMAN)