Robbers strike in Cebu amid cop controversies

CEBU — While public attention was diverted by recent controversies involving the police, as in the Ecleo case and the arrest of two policemen in an alleged kidnapping, robbers made hay again, this time burglarizing a multipurpose cooperative in Talisay City the other day.

Burglars broke two padlocks to gain entry into the Cebu People’s Multipurpose Cooperative in Tabunok and ransacked the place unencumbered.

Police officer SPO1 Edgar Causon who investigated the case said the robbers successfully made off with P81,160 in cash and P290,000 worth of assorted jewelry.

The cooperative’s branch manager, Josefina-Joyce Diaz, said the pieces of jewelry in their office had been pawned by members which the cooperative redeemed on their behalf and for the owners to repay the cooperative in installments.

The cooperative has only one guard who also doubles as a janitor and he reports only in the daytime, thus leaving the cooperative office unguarded at night.

Causon said neighboring establishments also have no guards at night.

At least one witness told police he saw a man hanging around in the vicinity of the cooperative earlier in the day.

This was the second time the building had been robbed. The previous occupant, a fastfood outlet, was similarly burglarized three years ago, Causon said.

Causon said he was able to retrieve several sets of fingerprints from the door and vault of the cooperative but will have to compare them with those from its nine employees.

Causon said the police, so far, have no suspects and could not say whether the robbery was an inside job. — Freeman News Service