Thief who stole from wife of ex-councilor identified

CEBU, Philippines - One of the members of the Laglag Barya Gang that victimized the wife of a former Cebu City councilor last Tuesday has been identified by the police.

Witnesses identified the suspect as Jamboy Tagon, who had been arrested by Waterfront Police Station April 8 this year for the same offense.

Waterfront Police acting chief Jose Gesto said Tagon was one of the persons who took the bag of Sheila Mae Daluz, wife of ex-councilor and lawyer Joey Daluz.

The victim was reportedly about to leave her car to supposedly have lunch at a restaurant along Legaspi Street with her husband and kids when an unidentified person approached and told her that something fell at the back of her car.

She went to check it and soon realized that she was being tricked, but when he returned, her bag, which contained P120,000 cash, was no longer inside the vehicle.

Gesto said they remembered the same modus operandi and showed to the witnesses a picture of Tagon. He was really one of the suspects, the witnesses confirmed.

“Mao g’yud na iyang trabaho (laglag barya),” said Gesto.

Theft and Robbery Section chief David Señor said they are suspecting the robbery group is still new since they do not have pictures yet of Tagon’s cohorts in their gallery of notorious robbers.

David said they received information that Tagon’s group comes from Mindanao.

Meanwhile, some of the items stolen from Daluz’ wife were recovered after the culprits left them at a fastfood chain in Lapu-Lapu City.

Señor said a fastfood crew saw a white plastic left by customers on the chair. The crew opened it and saw inside identification cards bearing the name of Daluz’ wife. The P120,000 was no longer there.

Señor said the robbers must have eaten at the fastfood chain first before dividing the money among themselves.

The TRS chief said they will coordinate with the owners of the restaurant to see the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage that captured the thieves.

According to Señor, Tagon’s group is based in Lapu-Lapu City and that they were also the ones who have victimized other persons in the city as well as in Mandaue City this year using the same modus operandi.

Investigation is ongoing for the identification and arrest of the suspects.  (FREEMAN)