MMDA office ‘thief’ sued

The thief who was caught hiding inside the office of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino over the weekend has been charged with three counts of robbery.

According to a police report, Hilbert Mongcano was caught redhanded with his loot, which consisted of cash, valuables and electronic gadgets worth about P100,000.

The 22-year-old Mongcano, a resident of Makati City, ended up being trapped in a toilet at Tolentino’s office after he entered the agency through an air-conditioning duct in an adjacent room.

After ransacking the two offices, he found himself unable to get out through the vent and tried to hide in the toilet where he was found by a security guard on Sunday afternoon.

According to Makati police chief Senior Supt. Manuel Lukban, Mongcano has been linked to two other robbery cases.

These included the theft of a checkbook in December and a robbery inside a computer shop in Makati City.

A check of the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera inside the computer shop led to his being identified as one of the robbers, Lukban said.

Lukban added that they were preparing a third case against Mongcano after he testified against a man accused of theft. However, investigators later determined that he was the one who took the missing items.

The MMDA, meanwhile, said that contrary to earlier reports, no documents or papers were taken by Mongcano.