No locks, weak security in Fort San Pedro

Weak security in Fort San Pedro or negligence were factors in the theft of antique swords and a bayonet discovered this week.

The padlock on the museum’s wooden door was left unlocked.

Even the glass display cases storing the now-missing “Weapons used by Katipuneros” were not locked, said Erwin de la Cerna, the fort’s new executive director who toured Cebu Daily News yesterday around the stone fort’s two-floor museum.

He started in his new post on Nov. 5, two days before the theft was reported.

Police are looking into the possibility that the loss was an “inside job”.

One can easily find the museum after entering the fort, stepping into its garden courtyard and turning at the right corner.

The glass display cases were earlier opened for cleaning, but it wasn’t clear when or by whom.

“They said they would clean them,” said a staffer of the Cebu Historical Affairs Commission (CHAC), who recalled a past conversation with a former museum colleague.

De la Cerna said the four missing swords and a bayonet were “priceless” antiques.

He said these were among the artifacts turned over by CHAC in 2010 from the Rizal Memorial Museum in Osmeña Boulevard during its renovation wherein the second floor was converted into an art museum to display paintings.

The swords were transferred to Fort San Pedro.

The fort is supposed to be under a 24-hour watch by six guards on three shifts.

De la Cerna said he would adopt strict security protocols following the theft and ask for security cameras.

“We need CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) because our security guards can’t monitor everything,” he said, but noted that a request last year for the cameras was not approved by the City Council.

De la Cerna said he also wants the staff to undergo training about the historic significance of the museum’s collection and to undergo drug tests.

The empty display cases were labled “Weapons used by Katipuneros” refering to Filipino revolutionaries fighting Spanish colonizers in the 16th and 17th century.

Above the empty glass case is a painting by Cebuano artist Manuel Pañares showing Katipuneros using swords and bayonets against the guns and canons of the Spaniards.

CHAC staff said they knew little else about the artifacts because the property custodian, Rebecca Atillo, resigned six months ago in May 2012.

The museum is under the office of the mayor while Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young is head of the CHAC.

Police earlier took fingerprints of the museum’s 11 staff. De la Cerna replaced Lourdes Ann Limpangog who resigned in October. He used to be an executive assistant of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama with whom he worked for 12 years.