MANILA, Philippines—The village is called Mapayapa (peaceful), the barangay is named Holy Spirit and the robbery victim is a well-known TV reporter.
“I used to cover incidents like this. Now it has happened to me and it’s really traumatic,” ABS-CBN reporter Jay Ruiz said in an interview early Tuesday with Radyo Inquirer reporter Chona Yu and anchor Den Macaranas.
The suspects, Ruiz said, took his two lap top computers, two cellular phones and P3,500 cash, which was taken from his Honda Civic. The vehicle though was not taken away.
He said he woke up at around 5:30 a.m. and found all doors opened and the appliances in disarray.
Ruiz, who covered the police beat for three years, said the suspects could have been a group of young people, not professionals. “They might have entered through the windows in my children’s room. They were all opened,” he said.
Though he’s frustrated about the lack of security in his village despite the presence of security guards, Ruiz said he’s still thankful no one in his family was hurt. He lives with his wife and two children, who are only one-year-old twins.
Isolated case
Describing the incident as something “isolated,” Holy Spirit Barangay (village) captain Felecito “Chito” Valmocina told Radyo Inqurier he is sad and frustrated of what happened because the victim is a media man. “This is the first time a house is robbed here in the Mapayapa village,” he said.
He said he is eyeing two groups of robbers known to operate in gated villages like Mapayapa.
“One is a group of professionals. They enter subdivisions in a car. The other is a gang of young people, probably adolescents, who enter villages like a normal group of teenagers, a barkadahan,” Valmocina said.
Police are still conducting follow up operations on the case.
“I am calling on the PNP (Philippine National Police) to do whatever they can to solve this and prevent another crime like this in the neighborhood. It would be hard for me to sleep at night now. I have this paranoia they might come back again and harm my family,” said Ruiz.
For the full interview, listen to the attached audio clip from Radyo Inqurier.