Japanese loses cash, valuables to con man

A JAPANESE tourist lost P35,000 in cash, a digital camera, and his passport on Wednesday night to a Korean who befriended him. Atsushi Nozaki, 46, a native of Nagoya, Japan, who was temporarily staying at the Star Gate Pension House in Ermita, filed a complaint with the Manila Police District?s General Assignment Section against a fellow tourist who had introduced himself only as Kim. Case investigator PO2 James Poso said the theft took place at around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday in a fitting room at Isetann Department Store at the corner of C. M. Recto Avenue and Quezon Boulevard in Quiapo, Manila. Nozaki said he was shopping by himself at Robinson?s Place on Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, when a Korean-looking man approached him and offered to take him around the city. The victim agreed and they both rode on the Light Rail Transit to go to Isetann. Poso said that upon arriving at the mall, the victim had a few beers with Kim before they went to the clothing section to buy clothes. The victim said he gave Kim his bag to hold but when he came out of the fitting room, the Korean was already gone. The victim said he lost P35,000 in cash, a digital camera, credit cards, a P300 pre-paid mobile phone load and his passport. Jeannette I. Andrade

3 men nabbed for trying to stop demolition

THREE people were arrested by policemen when a scuffle broke out between residents of a riverside community in Sta. Lucia, Pasig City, and a team sent to demolish a basketball court in the area. Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona, Pasig police chief, said in an interview that they arrested three men for hitting city government employees who were trying to implement a resettlement project in Barangay Sta. Lucia at noon Thursday. The three have yet to be identified. According to Cardona, one of the three men was taken to Pasig City General Hospital for minor injuries. Cardona said the city engineering department had asked the police for help in implementing Executive Order 854 which provides for the rehabilitation of the Napindan Channel, Manggahan Floodway and Lupang Arenda. The project included several clearing operations in the area and the eventual relocation of residents to Laguna, he added. The residents involved in the brawl lived in a riverside community on the Manggahan Floodway. Beverly T. Natividad

Woman dies in Pasig fire

A STILL unidentified elderly woman died when her house in San Joaquin, Pasig City, was hit by a fire Thursday morning. The fire broke out at the victim?s house on San Bernardo Street in Barangay San Joaquin. FO1 Salvador Norberte of the Bureau of Fire Protection office in Pasig said the fire started from an unattended lighted candle. It damaged only half of the shanty, he said, but the smoke may have suffocated the woman known only as Inday and estimated to be around 65 to 70 years old. Beverly T. Natividad