Cops zero in on inside job: Guard sued over Sinulog burglary

CEBU, Philippines - Police placed under arrest yesterday a 40-year-old security guard following the burglary at the office of the Sinulog Foundation Incorporated inside Cebu City Sports Center Monday dawn.

Security guard Joselyndon Jabagat is now facing a charge of qualified theft that the city police filed against him before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday afternoon.

But Jabagat denied responsibility for the disappearance of P1.6 million, which was taken from the vault inside the SFI office. 

Jabagat, of GDS Security and Detective Agency and General Services, was arrested based on the statements made by witnesses to the police.

Chief Insp. Bonifacion Garciano, chief of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Cebu City Police Office, said the testimonies of the witnesses pointed to Jabagat as the suspect. 

“Naay mga testigo nga duol kaayo niya (Jabagat) unya questionable kaayo iyang mga statements,” he said.

Manuel Quemada, an SFI utility worker, told The FREEMAN that at around 2 a.m. on Monday, he saw a man coming out from the CCSC office.

 Worried, Quemada said he immediately asked assistance from Jabagat, who only “replied,”mi-panso ra to.”

Quemada added that the man, whom he failed to identify, walked towards the pool area and was gone.

But Jabagat claimed that the man that Quemada saw was his fellow security guard John Eric Carcedo.

Jabagat said that at around 2:30 a.m., he locked himself inside the media center to sleep.

“Nakatulog gyud ko sa sulod sa media center kay 24hours baya ko nga nag duty. May nalang naka pahulay,” he told The FREEMAN.

He said he woke up at around 3:30 a.m. and checked the entire hallway as he normally does during his shift.

Jabagat claimed that he did not notice anyone suspicious coming in or out the office aside from the employees. 

“Ako gyu’y nag kupot sa yawe sa opisina (CCSC) apan wala gyud koy kalabutan ana (bulgrary) kay wala man ko kulba-i,” Jabagat said. 

Garciano said they will subject Jabagat and the witnesses to a lie detector test at the National Bureau of Investigation.

Witness’ account

During the inquest proceedings, Prosecutor Gandhi Truya gave Jabagat ten days to file his counter-affidavit.

In his affidavit, Quemada said Jabagat has been detailed for several years at the admin office of CCSC where the SFI holds office.

He said on January 15 at around 9 p.m., he and his co-employees were retrieving tables and chairs from the command center and bought them to the CCSC warehouse.

Quemada said after they finished retrieving tables and chairs at around 12:30 a.m. on January 16, they proceeded to have a drink session at the employees’ quarter.

He said while they were drinking, Jabagat joined them for a while and then walked away.

Quemada said at around 2:50 a.m. Jabagat returned and rejoined them.

“While still drinking with my co-employees, Joselyndon (Jabagat) returned and took a shot and at this instance, I noticed a male person went inside the Admin Office of the Cebu City Sports Center which is situated just a few meters away,” affidavit reads.

Quemada said he informed Jabagat about the man but the security guard said: “nipanso ra na siya.”

“I informed Joselyndon because he did not leave and just stay with us. I further told him to close the office he was guarding for safety precautions,” he said.

He added that after five minutes, the man came out from the admin office carrying something but Jabagat still did not react to verify.

Carcedo said when he was about to punch in his daily time record, he noticed that the admin office was already opened and there was no guard on duty.

He said he was later told that the money inside the vault was stolen.

Jabagat, however, denied the allegation, saying he never stole the money. He said he did not know who got it as he was sleeping during the incident.

SFI hopes to recover the money

Ricky Ballesteros, Executive Director of Sinulog Foundation Inc., said the SFI directors are yet to meet and discuss how they will be able to recover the funds lost to burglars.

He said their immediate concern is the P750,000 talent fee of choreographer Victor Cuenco. The money is intended for the dancers commissioned by Cuenco to dance in the grand finale.

“Luoy sad kaayo if di mabayran ang mga dancers. Since November pa gud na sila nagsige’s practice. Whole day gud na so unsaon na lang ang gasto sa ilang plete ug ilang kaon,” Ballesteros said.

The SFI still hopes that the funds will be recovered soon, otherwise, Ballesteros said, they will declare it as a loss during the liquidation.

He said they are also looking at how they can demand refund from the GDS Security and Detective Agency and General Services since the incident happened under the watch of its security guard.

Ballesteros said there was clear negligence on the part of Jabagat because in his statement to the police, the guard said he left his post at the sports center office because he was not aware that the room was keeping a big cash.

“Nganung iya mang biyaan nga ang trabaho niya is bantayan ang office?” Ballesteros said.

Osmeña blames Rama

Cebu City south district Representative Tomas Osmeña said the incident happened because Mayor Michael Rama “fired” the services of 150 volunteer of the Barangay Intelligence Network.

“Before Rama blames the previous mayor, we should be reminded that Rama fired 150 volunteers of BIN who were receiving only one-third the cost of a security guard. Instead of three guards, there was only one,” Osmeña said in a text message.

“Rama says that one key advantage of using a security agency is that they will be held liable for any loss, tinuod? Now, watch Rama display his greatest talent, blaming others then avoiding the issue,” Osmeña added.

Ballesteros confirmed that there used to be a BIN assigned in the sports center but the management decided to remove them for sleeping in their post.

            The blue guards at the sports center were hired by the Sports Center Management Committee.

Ballesteros said their priority right now is to install CCTV cameras in significant areas to avoid the same incident to happen.

In relation to the incident, the city government found a new reason to pursue its plan to take over the management of the facility.

Assistant city administrator Dominic Diño said once the city takes over the management of the facility, the poor security is one of the many things to be improved.– /LPM (FREEMAN)