Church "burglars" caught on CCTV

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – Monsignor Julius Perpetuo Heruela, rector of the St. Catherine of Alexandria Cathedral in this city, on Wednesday went to the police station to file a complaint against two men who were caught on CCTV cameras stealing the money from contribution boxes inside the church on separate incidents.

The CCTV cameras captured the actions of the two, who Heruela said were security guards detailed at the church, sometime between September 14 and 20 this year.

The names of the suspects and the security agency they were working with were still withheld until a complaint is finally lodged in court.

Heruela said there was no way to determine the exact amount lost to thieves as the collections and donations vary each day.

It was not the first time that the Cathedral was robbed of tithes and other cash proceeds over the past years, all of which remained unsolved by the police to this day.

The biggest loss that the Cathedral had incurred was estimated by Heruela to be almost half a million pesos, amassed from the New Year’s collection of donations from church goers plus solicited funds of the parish pastoral council last January intended for various projects.