MANILA, Philippines -- A policeman lost a service firearm when unidentified men broke into his house while he and his family attended a church service Quezon City on Thursday morning, a police report said.

Police Officer 3 Ronaldo Nava of the Quezon City Police District theft and robbery section identified the victim as PO3 Aldrin Matienzo of Don Antonio Heights, Quezon City.

Nava said the burglary could have taken place between 4:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. when the policeman and his family were out of the house.

Matienzo, assigned with the Quezon City Police District's Clearance Section, lost his .9 mm service pistol, P2,000 and US$1 in cash in the burglary, police said.

Police said Matienzo and his family left at dawn to attend worship at a church along Luzon Avenue and came back around noon and discovered the break-in.

According to Nava, the robbers entered the house by destroying the screened window at the back and then reaching into the door’s lock.

Matienzo said the burglary was the first after their seven years of stay at their home.

Nava said the robbers scaled the wall of an unoccupied adjacent apartment and passed behind two more units where the clotheslines were located.