A BREAK-IN was reported at the finance and budget department of the Sandiganbayan on Saturday morning, according to a police report.
The office is located on the ground floor of the Sandiganbayan building on Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City.
Inspector Rogelio Diaz, chief of the Theft and Robbery Section of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said the burglary was discovered by a security guard who was conducting a routine check at around 9 a.m. the other day.
Diaz said the guard found the office in disarray with pieces of paper and documents strewn all over the place.
All the cabinets had also been opened while the office supplies had been thrown on the floor.
“It appears that the document files were searched and that the intruders were looking for something,” Diaz said.
Inventory pending
He added that the employees of the finance and budget department had yet to make an inventory of their files so that they could determine if anything was missing.
But the police official said that based on their initial investigation, the burglars also went through the workers’ personal belongings.
He added that they also found fingerprints and footprints inside the room which could provide them with good leads.
Diaz said that based on the statements of employees, the office was closed at 5:10 p.m. on Friday.
He said that based on the evidence they gathered and the layout of the building, the burglars were probably already inside the complex before it was closed for the day.
“It’s hard to enter from the outside because the perimeter wall of the Sandiganbayan is high and difficult to scale from the outside. The suspect could have entered the building through the main door and stayed behind after the employees were gone,” the police official explained.
He added that the intruders might have entered the building by going through one of the windows.
He said that the security guard who conducted a check of the building noticed that one of the windows leading to the finance and budget office was open.
Diaz added that no other office in the building was burglarized.