Cell phone theft? Congressman sues DOLE usec

MANILA, Philippines — A party-list congressman has filed theft and robbery charges against former Negros Oriental representative and now Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras for allegedly stealing his phone. 

In a complaint filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, Rep. Tom Villarin of Akbayan party-list said the incident happened during a congressional hearing in March.

“We should not let things like this pass,” Villarin said at a news conference yesterday.

Paras denied the charges, saying the allegations are malicious and tainted with politics.

“I have not stolen his cell phone,” Paras said in reaction to the complaint.

Villarin said Paras acted like a “salisi” or thief when he allegedly grabbed the phone from the table.

He said the former lawmaker obviously intended to take the phone away. 

“I don’t know him. I just heard him telling me: Kayo pala ni Senator (Risa) Hontiveros ang magkasama (so you and Senator Risa are together),” Villarin said.

He said he sensed that Paras was insinuating that he and Hontiveros being together was something more than the fact that they were colleagues in an organization.

Before she was elected senator, Hontiveros was a congresswoman representing Akbayan. 

Paras said he placed his phone on the table as he was talking to Villarin. He said he must have accidentally picked up the wrong phone when he left to move to another congressional hearing.

He said he must have left Villarin’s phone at the hearing where it was found by security officers, who turned it over to Villarin’s staff.

“I have no intent to gain from taking it if I accidentally lifted it together with my phone,” he said.

Villarin said Paras possibly wanted to extract information from his phone, but could not have opened it due to iPhone X’s face recognition security feature. 

“The incident was caught on CCTV. The guards told me they are ready to testify. I included the footage among the documents that I filed before the prosecutor’s office,” he said, referring to the closed-circuit television camera. 

Villarin said his phone went missing for more than an hour. He dialled the number and let it ring for about 10 times, but no one answered.

The phone was later found in a nearby room.

The case is pending before the office of State Prosecutor Christina Rosario-Osoteo. – With Mayen Jaymalin