Police official's house burglarized

CEBU, Philippines - A ranking police official lost over P200,000 in cash and valuables to unidentified burglars who broke into their house at a subdivision in Barangay Lamac, Consolacion yesterday dawn.

Sr. Supt. Augusto Marquez Jr., who is now assigned at the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management in Camp Crame, was surprised to learn that his house in Monterverde Subdivision has been burglarized.

Marquez, who is the former intelligence chief of the Police Regional Office-7, was in Manila when the incident happened. His wife Faith Evelyn and the two helpers were the only people in the house.

Police Officer 3 Efren Fuentes of the Consolacion police station said that one of the two housemaids woke up early in the morning yesterday and found that the sliding window at the living room was already open.

The housemaid allegedly ignored it until Faith Evelyn woke up and was looking for her shoulder bag. Marquez’s wife claimed she lost US$3,100 or P130,200 based on the current dollar exchange rate; P15,000 cash and a Canon camera worth P70,000. There were also several ATM cards and important documents missing.

Crime scene investigators said there was no sign of force entry but found possible fingerprints of the suspects.

 “Naay (there are) fingerprints but no forcible entry except sa bintana sa kwarto ni sir nga mao ra’y abli (the window of sir which was open),” said Chief Inspector Alvin Balio.

Balio said they will be viewing the footage taken from the closed-circuit television camera of the neighbor of Marquez.  (FREEMAN)