Vizcaya ex-mayor’s QC home robbed while he’s out campaigning

MANILA, Philippines–With the master of the house out campaigning in the province, burglars hit the Quezon City residence of a former Nueva Vizcaya town mayor early Friday.

Police said former Bambang Mayor Benjamin Cuaresma lost P100,000 cash and P250,000 in valuables following the break-in at his house on Maryland Street, Barangay Immaculate Conception.

Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo of the Quezon City Police District’s Kamuning police station said the thieves apparently took advantage of Cuaresma’s absence as he was helping his mother Luisa campaign in their home province, where she is running for congresswoman in next month’s elections.

The elder Cuaresma is a former governor of Nueva Vizcaya.

The burglars managed to get into the house by forcing the back door open, Pedrozo said.

The former town mayor left the house around 7 p.m. Monday to go home to the province and was forced to cut his trip short after a neighbor told him of the break-in.

The robbery was discovered by the neighbor’s househelp who noticed Cuaresma’s back door left ajar.