QC to require thicker floors for shops

MANILA, Philippines - Pawnshops and other establishments in Quezon City may soon be required to have thicker concrete floors as a measure to prevent burglary.

Mayor Herbert Bautista “expressed his desire for a measure that would require it,” Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano said in a recent interview.

QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao said Bautista has asked the city council to craft an ordinance that would require establishments in the city to have thicker floors.

Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, who heads the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the concrete floor should be at least a foot thick.

Bautista’s request was prompted by cases involving burglars who “would go underground and dig their way into the targeted shop,” Albano said.

Recently, the QCPD arrested Jim Bautista in his hometown in Ilocos Sur following a break-in at a pawnshop in Barangay Bagong Bayan.

A witness identified Bautista as one of the men going in and out of a drainpipe about 800 meters away from the site of the pawnshop days before the burglary, the QCPD said.

The pawnshop’s employees found a hole in the floor where the ransacked vault was located, with the burglars tracking mud all over the shop.

Albano also said pawnshops and other establishments should be required to have their alarm systems connected to police stations or to the base of the owners.

Recently, the city council required shops in the city to have surveillance camera systems.