Crew cleared in Lapu church burglary; workers to face polygraph tests

AN interrogation of the contractor and the personnel that once repainted the Birhen sa Regla parish in Lapu-Lapu City didn’t produce any leads into the investigation on the Nov. 28 burglary that occurred there.

Senior Insp. Christian Torres, Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) chief of the Lapu-Lapu City police, said they still believe that the burglary, which resulted in the loss of 69 necklaces, 70 rings, 16 bracelets and an undetermined amount of cash, was an inside job.

The contractor and personnel repainted the church before the annual fiesta of the Birhen sa Regla last Nov. 21.

Torres said they are focusing their investigation on Church workers after learning that the closed circuit TV camera’s cable wire was cut.

He said they believed it was deliberately disconnected since it wasn’t linked to other wiring.

A minor was also included in the investigation owing to his past history of stealing money from the donation box, Torres said.

He said a polygraph or lie detector test on the Church workers and two priests has yet to materialize due to their preparations for an upcoming Church activity this month.

Torres, a devotee of the Virgin, said he believes that the stolen items could be worth more than a million pesos.

He said one of the missing necklaces alone was worth around P300,000.

He said an opening in the ceiling of the shrine that goes through the church’s bell tower could have been used by the burglars.

Torres said the perpetrators could have also stayed inside the church before the guards closed it for the night.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said she hopes the police would expedite their investigation and arrest the culprits behind the burglary. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza