NBI to summon 9 church employees over stolen Sto. Niño

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to summon nine employees of the San Agustin Church in the ongoing probe aimed at recovering the stolen image of the child Jesus.

The source said the nine church employees to be summoned to the NBI main office include the janitor who first saw parts of the image left by the thieves at the confessional and along the church corridor.

"But we still don’t have any suspect yet. We could no longer lift any fingerprints from the parts left by the thieves because more than a week has passed and a lot of people have touched the items," an NBI agent noted.

Fr. Pedro Galendro requested the bureau to help find the 300-year-old gold image of the child Jesus cradled by the Our Lady of Consolacion and Correa.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said he would tap the National Capital Region (NCR) Division to conduct the investigation and eventually recover the religious image.

The Western Police District (WPD) is also conducting a parallel investigation on the stolen Sto. Niño although, like the NBI, it has yet to make a breakthrough on the case.

Lawyer Romulo Asis, executive officer of the NBI-NCR said agents are now checking all antique shops in Malate and Ermita, where the stolen items could have been sold. – Cecille Suerte Felipe