Footprints betray thief

CEBU, Philippines - A construction worker’s footprints betrayed him after breaking into a house in Zone Sikwa in barangay Paknaan, Mandaue City Monday morning.

Construction worker Jerson Dagwayan, 25, married, of Minglanilla town, Cebu was arrested after the police confirmed that the footprints outside of a house that was robbed were his.

Last Monday morning Carina Taclob, 53, went to the Basak police station to report that her house was burglarized while everybody was asleep.

She said a burglar gained entry into the house by destroying its chimney.

Taken were an iPhone worth P37,000, a laptop worth P25,000, assorted watches totalling P9,000, and pieces of fashion jewelry amounting to P1,000.

Taclob said she went out of the house through the front door. It was open when they woke up.

Basak police station chief P Sr./Insp. Wilson Abot said he noticed an ongoing construction adjacent to Taclob’s house and theorized the construction workers could be behind the burglary.

After he saw a footprint, he then asked for the foreman of the construction site to call all its workers to find who might have made the footprints.

But two of the workers were absent that day. When they reported for work yesterday morning, it was Dagwayan’s footprints that matched those left in Taclob’s property and those found in the chimney.

Dagwayan admitted to the crime.

Except for the iPhone, the stolen items were recovered in barangay Duljo-Fatima.

Dagwayan said he sold the phone for P2,000 but failed to recover it because the person he sold the phone to had already gone to work.  (FREEMAN)