Another victim also said she was the same maid who stole from their residence in Mandaluyong.
The maid who introduced herself as Annabele Tibalao, 32, a native of Samar and resident of Barangay Alabang, Muntinlupa City, was arrested at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday at Starmall Alabang by her former employer and barangay officials who pretended to be looking for a maid, police said.
Victim Elisa Correa, 55, a resident of F. Roxas Street, 7th Avenue, Caloocan City, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that she contacted maid recruiter Sally Fuentes but the one who answered was the suspect who told her that she was Sally’s niece and that she would be handling transactions while her aunt was sick.
Correa said her daughter Jemilyn had a gut feel that the suspect and the maid recruiter were the same person.
Jemilyn pretended to be another person with Visayan accent, who was in need of a maid for a Balikbayan (visiting Filipino) relative in Cavite. The suspect introduced herself as Sally Fuentes and they began their transaction, her 27-year-old daughter said.
Correa said she was starting to feel hopeless because the suspect initially said she would meet them at General Trias, Cavite, but did not show up. But her daughter was persistent and their former maid finally agreed to meet them in front of Starmall Alabang, she added.
With the help of Barangay Alabang assistant duty officer Nora Eslawan and barangay watchman Reynaldo Lozano, the suspect got arrested and detained at the Caloocan police station.
Lozano said Eslawan presented herself as the prospective employer and when they showed her to the victims, the maid defended herself by claiming she just borrowed Correa’s bag.
The suspect was carrying the Marc Jacobs bag but the P650,000 cash, iPhone, iPad, two Nokia cell phones, jewelry worth more or less P30,000 and other valuables were already missing.
Correa said the suspect stole the items at around 5 a.m. last Sunday while they were sleeping. A CCTV camera in Barangay 58, Caloocan City, showed that the suspect went back and forth to their residence thrice.
“I slept at around 3 a.m. on Sunday because we came from a family gathering. One of my children gave me the P650,000 for deposit so it was just in my bag,” she said.
The bag and other valuables were inside her bedroom. “I’m thankful I’m alive. She could have killed me if I caught her stealing those items,” Correa, who has been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer, said.
Suspect Tibalao told Inquirer: “My only mistake is bringing the bag along with the items inside it when I borrowed it for my clothes.” She added that she left the house because she had an argument with her employer.
Her boss Correa said she did not ask for NBI clearance and other requirements from the suspect when she first arrived at their house. The night before she stole the items, she asked for the requirements but the suspect failed to show any. Tibalao had worked only for three days as their maid.
At around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, another victim, Suzanne Elviña, 46, appeared at the Caloocan police station, carrying a photo of the suspect, who allegedly introduced herself as Linda Rallene and stole from them P30,000 cash and P100,000 worth of jewelry in 2011 in their residence in Plainview subdivision in Mandaluyong.
Elviña had a heated confrontation with the suspect as the latter denied that she was the same person.
Tibalao said: “I am much prettier that the one in the picture.”
Elviña said the suspect just grew fat and had her hair straightened. “I am sure that she is the same person who stole from us,” she added.
Police said a case of qualified theft would be filed against Tibalao with the Caloocan City Prosecutor’s office.