CEBU, Philippines - An official of the Mandaue City Fiesta Committee lost jewelry and other valuables worth over P500,000 during the coronation of a pageant at the Cebu International Convention Center late Thursday night.
The victim was identified as Carmelita Seno, 65 years old and chairperson of the Committee on Beauty and Search.
She was attending the coronation of the Queen, Prince, and Princess of Mandaue when she lost her bag that was put under her chair.
Based on the initial investigation of the police, Seno along with other committee members put their bags under their chairs.
As she was busy with the activity, Seno did not notice that her bag was already missing until the program was almost over.
Inside her bag were a man’s ring worth P300,000, a ladies ring with diamond worth P30,000, a gold necklace with pendant worth P150,000, two iPhones worth P23,000 each, a cellular phone worth P7,000, two pairs of earrings valued at P2,000 each, and cash worth P15,000.
The man’s ring was reportedly owned by the victim’s late husband and she had been bringing it since his death.
The incident was immediately reported to the officers from the Centro Police Station detailed as security of the area.
The police team was led by Insp. Alexander Nuñez.
The police immediately checked the people who were going out of the place but did not find anybody bringing the bag of the victim.
Nuñez said that they checked the close circuit TV (CCTV) of the CICC and saw somebody who looked like a homosexual bringing the bag out of the building at around 11:10 p.m.
This was about 20 minutes before the program closed.
The victim was able to identify the bag as hers, but they could not clearly make out the face of the thief as this wasn’t very clear on the footage.
“Usa ra ang suspect, bayot. Dunay nakamay-ong niya nga organizer sa Fiesta Committee apan we cannot properly identify him kay dili clear ang kuha sa camera ug naka sideview siya dihang migawas sa CICC,” Nuñez said.
Nuñez said that since there will be more activities to be held at the CICC as part of the city’s annual fiesta celebration, they will implement tighter security measures in order to prevent similar incidents.
Lawyer Joel Seno, son of the victim, told The Freeman that the man’s ring that was taken from his mother was “square in form” and there is a big diamond in the center surrounded by smaller stones.
He said that his mother wasn’t able to get her bag right away when the people started moving around towards the end of the program, which might have allowed the thief to make his move. — /NLQ (FREEMAN)