Former solon’s wife loses jewelry worth P3.5 million

The wife of former congressman Crisologo Abines nearly got her entire jewelry collection cleaned out, claiming she lost 21 pieces of jewelry worth P3.5 million over a period of several months to a maid. Worse, the maid, who was initially summoned by police admitted to stealing not 21 but just five of the reportedly stolen items, had been set free owing to the absence of any charge against her. Priscila Abines, a medical doctor, claimed to have started losing her jewelries in her home in Lahug in November yet, but was not sure at the time that the maid took them and only sought the help of the police last February. When she started to suspect the maid, Priscila went to see police chief inspector Virgilio Apurado on Feb. 17 at the regional police headquarters, where he is assigned.

Apurado, a family friend of the Abineses, in turn referred the matter to the police theft and robbery section which then invited the maid for questioning. The maid, whose name The Freeman is withholding pending the filing of charges, had been with the Abines family for nearly a year. During questioning, the maid admitted having stolen five pieces of jewelry from Priscila and pawning the items, claiming they fetched her more than P100,000.

The following day, Priscila and the police took the maid to the pawnshop where she said she pawned the items and was able to identify them from among several pieces of jewelry. The maid had lost all the receipts but remembered the dates when she pawned the items, enabling Priscila to redeem each one of them. – Freeman News Service