CEBU, Philippines - Some members of a religious group from Oklahoma, USA, which arrived in Mandaue City last Monday to distribute sports equipment and carry out mass feeding, lost money and valuables while inside a fastfood outlet last Tuesday evening.
Adam Barnett of Oklahoma, together with fellow Americans who belong to the Journey Church, lost a backpack containing US$4,500, eleven passport visas, and a cellular phone worth $200, and other important documents while ordering food.
The outlet is located at A. S. Fortuna Street in Mandaue.
SPO1 Kerwin Bejer of the Investigative and Detective Management Bureau (IMDB) yesterday said the religious group together with Bishop Joy Bindoy of God’s Sufficient Grace Ministry Church based in barangay Pagsabungan dropped by the outlet for supper at around 7:15 p.m. after supervising a free feeding earlier.
Bejer said that while the group was inside the fastfood outlet, Barnett placed his backpack under a chair and approached the counter to order food, his wife following behind him.
Bejer said Barnett’s colleagues didn’t notice anyone picking up the backpack.
However, Bindoy’s assistant had claimed that he saw three men and a woman entering the outlet after them and taking a separate table.
But minutes later they left after the woman made the thumbs-up sign.
Bejer said that since the fastfood outlet does not have a security camera, he would ask Bindoy’s assistant to describe the people he suspected to have stolen Garnett’s backpack so that the police can come up with cartographic sketches of the suspects.
Last Monday, the group visited the Mayor’s Office to hand over softball and baseball equipment for Mandaue City.
The donation was received by acting Mayor Diosdado Suico, city administrator Briccio Boholst, and Hidelito Pascual, the executive director of the City Sports Commission. Mayor Jonas Cortes is currently out of town. – THE FREEMAN