METROBRIEFS
Thieves ‘tunnel’ into pawnshop
Thieves used a sewage tunnel to break into a pawnshop in Cubao, Quezon City, and make off with a still undetermined amount of cash and valuables. The burglary at Deluxe Pawnshop on Arayat Street was discovered only on Monday morning, hours after the establishment closed down on Sunday afternoon. The police said they found a four-foot-deep hole on the floor beside the pawnshop’s vault. Senior Police Officer 4 Allan de la Cruz of the Quezon City Police District theft and robbery section said the hole, big enough for a small man, led directly to the 400-meter-long sewage tunnel. According to the police, the robbers entered the tunnel by going down a manhole in front of a bus station on Aurora Boulevard. “We were able to recover six disposable lighters with flashlights inside the tunnel,” Dela Cruz said, adding that the underground facility served as a spillway in the Cubao area. The burglary was discovered only at 9:15 a.m. on Monday after two employees came in and found the place in disarray. The thieves also left behind the acetylene torch they used to cut a hole in the vault and two empty acetylene tanks. Julie M. Aurelio
Man stabbed dead in Marikina
A still unidentified man in his 20s whose body bore stab wounds was found lying in front of a subdivision gate in Marikina City yesterday morning, As of noon Tuesday, no one had come forward to claim the body of the suspected robbery victim. Case investigator Police Officer 2 Rodrigo Febreo said the man was found lying face down on the sidewalk in front of Montevista Subdivision Gate 1 in Barangay IVC around 6 a.m. He was described as around 5’3” in height, with short blond hair and of slight build. He was clad in a red shirt with “Monster” markings, a pair of checkered shorts and gray shoes. “No one in the subdivision knew the man. He could be a scavenger or a robbery victim. We are still not sure,” Febreo said. Niña Calleja
Try case, Pateros asks court
The Municipality of Pateros has urged the Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) to continue hearing its petition in which it lays claim to more than 760 hectares of land in Fort Bonifacio and outlying barangays after the defendants in the case—the cities of Makati and Taguig—sought its dismissal. In a pleading filed before Taguig RTC Branch 271, Pateros said that the case should be resolved through a full-blown hearing to determine the truth of its claims. “Litigation is not a game of technicalities … It is in the interest of justice and fair play that an action should be determined by the court based on preponderance of evidence,” it added. Both Taguig and Makati, which control Fort Bonifacio and the outlying barangays of Cembo, South Cembo, West Rembo, East Rembo, Comembo, Pembo and Pitogo, respectively, sought the dismissal of the case on technical grounds. “Contrary to the counter claim of defendants, [the contested parcels of land are] within the jurisdictional area of Pateros as shown by several maps attached to the complaint. One of the maps is … duly approved by the Bureau of Land [in 1968 where Fort Bonifacio] is located within the area of [Pateros],” Pateros said. Nathaniel R. Melican
Teen loses cash to con artist
A 16-year-old girl was tricked on Monday into giving up more than P100,000 worth of cash and jewelry to a woman who claimed the teenager’s mother needed money to prevent a lawsuit that would be filed against her by an accident victim. The teenager, a resident of Tondo, Manila, filed a complaint Tuesday in the Manila Police District General Assignment Section against the woman who had duped her. Case investigator Police Officer 3 Gilbert Isole said that the incident happened between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, after the teenager received a telephone call from a woman, who identified herself as “Cristel,” claiming that her mother had figured in an accident. When the girl asked to talk to her mother, Cristel said that her mother could not come to the phone because she was still speaking with policemen and badly needed money to pay off the man whom she had accidentally bumped with her car. Cristel then instructed her to take some jewelry and cash to a mall at the corner of UN and Taft Avenues in Ermita. Jeannette I. Andrade
Drug pusher killed in shoot-out
A suspected drug pusher was killed while two others were arrested by policemen in Taytay, Rizal province at noon Tuesday. The police identified the fatality as Zacarias Diarol, a resident of Lupang Arienda in Barangay Sta. Ana, and those arrested as Joel Prado and Vilma Caluma. Taytay police chief Supt. Art Masusong said his men figured in a shoot-out with the three men after they were caught redhanded selling drugs to people in Lupang Arienda. Niña Calleja
