Fiscal asks: Did real thief know vault’s combination?

With theft charges against him dropped, security guard Joselyndo Jabagat went home to a quiet celebration.

He spent his first day out of jail with his family in barangay Carreta, Cebu City.

He and 28-year-old wife Marilyn went straight to the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño on Monday afternoon to light candles and attend Mass in thanksgiving.

“Mura kog naibtan ug tunok,” said Jabagat after 13 days in detention.

“Nakakita na ko ug langit, dili na rehas.” (It’s like a thorn was pulled out of me.  I can finally see the sky instead of prison bars.)

After his ordeal, the father of two said he’s quitting his 15-year job as a security guard and focusing on running his small home-based sari-sari store.

It’s back to square one for police investigators looking into the bizarre loss of P1.6-million cash in Sinulog Foundation funds taken from the vault of the Cebu City Sports Center hours after the grand finale of the Jan. 15 Sinulog.

Only the guard on duty and an unidentified “cohort” were tagged by police in the crime.

Prosecutors dismissed the charge against the 40-year-old guard, saying  that while Jabagat was negligent in his duties, even falling asleep at his post, “suspicions and insinuations” were not evidence of theft.

Cebu City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon cited what he called “intriguing” loopholes  in the police investigation.

For one, the vault where the money was kept was not presented as proof of a break-in. This opens questions on whether the thief actually knew the combination of the safe and didn’t have to force it open.

“No photograph or photographs were presented by the police during the inquest proceedings in order to show the physical appearance of the vault after the same was allegedly ‘burglarized,’” noted Sellon in a concurring resolution.

“This is very important in order to know whether or not the vault itself, in contrast to its mere outside cover, which can be opened by a key, was forcibly opened and destroyed by the alleged robber who entered the administration office at around 2:56 a.m. of Jan. 16.”

Only two persons knew the vault’s combination—the cashier of the sports center Marie Angeli Pascual and her alternate Helen Talisik—said the prosecutor.

Police are waiting for results of fingerprint analysis by the PNP Crime Laboratory of latent prints taken from the office, including a crow bar and a metal cutter found near the open vault and a detached metal cover of the cabinet-style safe.

Results of lie-detector tests administered on sports center staff, including  Sinulog Foundation executive director Ricky Ballesteros, were sent directly to Manila by the National Bureau of Investigation. The contents were not disclosed, although polygraph results are not admissible as evidence in court.

Cebu City Police Chief Ramon Melvin Buenafe yesterday said the police can still refile the case once they gather more evidence.

He didn’t support the theory that the real culprit may be someone who knew the safe combination.

“If you personally inspect (the vault), you will see the markings made by a crow bar,” he said, adding that a crow bar and a cutter were found in the guard’s locker room.

He said police found strong circumstantial evidence to pin Jabagat, but that “the determination of probable cause (of guilt) is the work of the prosecutor.”

The Cebu City police chief said his men would continue investigating the case.

Insp. Rolando Pinili, chief of the Theft and Robbery Section, who led the inquiry, said they respected the decision of the prosecutor’s office. He said the found circumstantial evidence against the  security guard.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said the dismissal of the qualified theft charge served as a lesson for the police to build up strong evidence before filing a case in court.

“You don’t just accuse a person based on hearsay and without clear proof.  Dili na pwede ang chamba chamba.  (You can’t just leave it to chance, that’s unacceptable),” said Young, who is the city’s acting mayor while Mayor Michael Rama is out of the country.

Young said that even with the case thrown out, the management of the sports center should terminate the services of Jabagat because “trust has been broken” in relations with the guard.With reports of Ador Mayol, Jhunnex Napallacan, Doris Bongcac and Chito Aragon