BTPP pilferage bared

LIMAY, Bataan — A security officer of the Bataan Thermal Power Plant here yesterday urged the management to bill a private security agency of P307,720 worth of copper plates reportedly pilfered from the main turbine building of the decommissioned 225 MW bunker oil fired plant.

Policarpio Rafael, BTPP security head, reported to the plant superintendent, that a duty electrician, Randy Tayag, while conducting ocular inspection inside the turbine building discovered the pilferage at about 11:30 a.m. last Monday. Rafael said that the copper plates were forcibly detached from the floor of the turbine building and believed stolen by still unidentified perpetrators.

BTPP property officer Ephraim Valdecañas who led the inventory team found out the missing copper plates has a length of 314 feet, nine inches in width and one-fourth thick with an approximate book value of P307,720.

The security officer ascertained the detailed guard reportedly was lax in securing the periphery of the turbine building since the plant is guarded 24 hours a day and all entrances are padlocked.

Rafael said " a would be intruder could be determined or detected by unnecessary noise heard inside the plant should the guard be alert in his duty since the plant is unoperational and under preservation."

Sources said a number of intruders allegedly with the connivance of some private security guards took high-value scrap metals to be sold to junkshops in Orion town and Balanga City.

Most of the alleged incidents are unreported to the local police for reasons unknown to the law enforcers.

Rafael asked the Odin Security Agency,Inc. to settle the stolen copper plates as soon as possible so as not spoil bidders for the proposed privatization of the BTPP which is scheduled on Sept. 30.