P600,000 worth of items lost in 2 separate Holy Week burglaries

MANILA, Philippines—Burglars who took advantage of the Holy Week exodus to the provinces broke into a stall inside a mall and an unattended apartment unit in Manila and carted away more than P600,000 worth of valuables, including assorted merchandise and passports, the police said.

Debbie Ines, 51, owner of a stall at the Divisoria Mall, reported to the Manila Police District Theft and Robbery Section the loss of some P548,000 worth of clothes and slippers while Veronica Garcia, 40, filed a complaint claiming thieves had looted her home of some P100,000 worth of jewelry, electronic gadgets, and two passports.

MPD Theft and Robbery Section investigators said the break-in at Ines’ stall at the Divisoria Mall in Binondo could have happened some time between 6:30 p.m. last Wednesday and 8:30 a.m. of Black Saturday, when the store owner reopened her stall.

After conducting an inventory of her merchandise, Ines proceeded late Saturday afternoon to the police unit office to report the theft.

Meanwhile, police investigators said Garcia’s home at the second floor of the JEMMS Building along Agoncillo Street in Malate might have been burglarized some time between 1 p.m. of Good Friday and 2 p.m. Easter Sunday while the complainant was away for the Holy Week break.

The burglars, apart from taking assorted jewelry and electronic gadgets, stole the passports of Garcia and Roger Torres.

Operatives of the MPD Theft and Robbery Section are conducting follow-up operations for the arrest of the thieves and possible recovery of the stolen items.