Man jailed for stealing jewelry from holy image

A man who confessed to stealing the jewelry of a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pitalo, San Fernando town, last year, was meted with four years imprisonment.

Judge Eric Menchavez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 21 sentenced Jowie Maaliao to two to four years in jail after he pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of theft. Maaliao admitted that he stole the jewelry from the statue in San Vicente Parish in Pitalo, sometime last year.

Maaliao told the court that he pawned the jewelry for P11,000. Calvin Alfetche, president of the San Vicente Parish Pastoral Council, said that the total value of the jewelry was P80,000.

Maaliao earlier pleaded not guilty to the crime of robbery but recently changed his mind and availed of the plea bargaining agreement wherein he will be convicted of a lesser offense. Upon consultation with Alfetche, who readily agreed that the accused would plead guilty to a lesser offense, Menchavez immediately ordered the re-arraignment and sentenced Maaliao last Thursday a minimum of two years and maximum of four years in jail.

Menchavez also ordered Maaliao to pay the San Vicente Parish P80,000 equivalent to the value of jewelry he stole from the image. - Fred P. Languido