Angeles mail pilferers caught on videotape

ANGELES CITY — Since 1987, scores of residents in Barangay Balibago, this city’s business district, have been reporting missing cash, usually in foreign currencies, and checks of various kinds and even jewelry sent from abroad.

Videotapes now in the possession of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seem to provide the answer: at least six personnel of the Philippine Postal Corp. (PPC) in Balibago have been pilfering mail and other parcels containing cash, checks and even jewelry.

According to an intelligence report submitted by three NBI confidential agents to the bureau’s regional office in San Fernando City, "majority of the employees of the (Balibago) post office have been committing the crime of pilferage" and that "even the postmaster (in the Balibago office) tolerates such kind of activity."

One videotape showed one employee pilfering cash from mailed envelopes which he first examined by feeling their contents between his thumb and pointer finger.

"It’s a practice known to them as hilot. By touching the sealed envelopes, they would know immediately whether they contain cash or checks," said one complainant who asked for anonymity.

One of the confidential agents said even health insurance checks sent from the United States to American expatriates in Angeles are being pilfered.

"The problem is that such checks seem to have buyers," he said.

One of the suspects was caught on video opening a mail by inserting a ballpen into an opening at the fold at the bottom of the envelope and running it to the top. The scheme neatly opened the sealed edges of one side of the envelope. The edges were later closed with ordinary paste after the pilferage.

The intelligence report identified at least two personnel — Danilo Salunga and Mario Mercado — who were allegedly caught on video in the act of pilfering mail.

Salunga, according to the report, goes to work as early as 7:30 a.m. to examine the letters assigned to him for delivery, allegedly to screen and pilfer those containing cash or checks or even jewelry.

The report said Mercado is believed to be bringing home letters assigned to him for delivery the following day by hiding them in his waist or in the compartment of his motorcycle.

Another postal worker, the report said, is involved in another form of anomaly, detaching stamps from mail, soaking them in chlorine to remove stamped ink marks, and reselling them. The worker reportedly collects more than a thousand stamps daily.

In some cases, the report said the suspects rewrite letters done through the computer to strike off any mention of cash or check that went with the mail. In some cases, the pilfered mail matters are simply discarded.

The NBI agents took the video during a five-day operation inside the postal office in Balibago.

The NBI is now preparing charges against the suspects. It is still gathering more witnesses and evidence against other personnel also involved in irregularities.