Mall detectives nab thieves from Bacolod

CEBU, Philippines - Another five people are now detained after allegedly stealing the bag, belonging to an American national and his wife, containing cash and other valuables past 1 p.m. the other day at a restaurant inside the Ayala Center Cebu in barangay Luz, Cebu City.

Roldan Brodit, 45 years old; Merlyn Pareño, 44, and Jerame Magtubo, 26, were turned over to the police after they were arrested by the mall’s security officers. Their companions, Christopher Perez, 29, and Aaron Panisa, 27, were later arrested by police during a follow-up operation.

All suspects are residents of Mansilingan, Bacolod City whom police believe as only a few of those from provinces outside Cebu who come here not to celebrate the Sinulog festivities, but to perpetrate crimes.

The victim, Ederlina Gamara Anderson and her American husband said they are determined to press charges against the suspects tagged by police as “mangtyempohay” (from the Spanish word “tiempo” to mean not only the weather but also being “on time” or “timely”).

Ederlina narrated to reporters yesterday that she and her husband were eating at a restaurant inside the mall when she was suddenly asked by the mall’s security officer if she lost something. She then discovered her black bag she placed beside her was missing.

The officers then chased Brodit, Pareño, and Magtubo who allegedly left the area in a hurry. They caught up with Magtubo who had just embarked on a passenger jeepney and saw her bag placed on top of the victim’s bag.

The victim said her bag contained over P5,000 and $200 cash, Gucci sunglasses, and a pepper spray she claimed is for self-defense.

William Jusoy, a house detective of the mall, said he and his colleagues were already suspicious of the three suspects because they have seen them that day moving in and out of various restaurant-tenants of the said mall.

He said that the moment they saw the suspects hurriedly walking away from the restaurant, and in a dispersed manner, they immediately asked the victims if they lost something.

The victims, residents of Vista Grande Subdivision in Bulacao, Talisay City, said that the three crowded them inside the restaurant and ordered some soda. The suspects allegedly walked minutes later. The couple is thankful to the mall’s security officers for apprehending the suspects.

Senior Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of the Theft and Robbery Section of the Cebu City Police Office, described the suspects as “mangtyempohay” from the word “tyempo”, a strategy of taking away the items of their prey while a cohort distracts the attention of the victims.

The suspects admitted to the crime, saying they arrived in Cebu just the other day. The police found out after scanning the suspects’ cellular phones that they were staying at a pension house along Manalili Street where Perez and Panisa were arrested 3 a.m. yesterday.

Bastes said these kind of robbers used to prey on victims inside high-end malls and restaurants where the well-to-do shop and dine.

He said these robbers distract their victims’ attention by intentionally dropping coins on the floor or by simply knocking on the glass walls of restaurants, then walking away with their bags. They will then place the loot inside a bigger bag before leaving the place.

The TRS chief appealed to those victims of “tyempo” to report incidents immediately to the authorities. — Niña G. Sumacot/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)