MANILA, Philippines — A 20-year-old man, arrested five months ago for allegedly breaking into the Quezon City home of a provincial judge and stealing close to P80,000 worth of electronic devices, pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbery in a Quezon City court, on Tuesday.
Richard Habijan, who was nabbed on December 3, 2012, by Quezon City policemen 10 days shy of his 20th birthday, was arraigned Tuesday on a robbery charge before Quezon City regional trial court branch 77 Judge Germano Francisco Legaspi.
Habijan entered a not guilty plea although he was identified by Gapan, Nueva Ecija regional trial court judge Wilfredo Maynigo as the man who had taken a laptop computer worth P60,000 and a mobile phone worth 16,000 from his two-story home in Barangay (village) Greater Lagro.
Based on the information of akyat-bahay ( break-in robbery) against him, he had taken the items from Maynigo’s house after gaining access to the judge’s home through the bathroom window.
In his complaint affidavit, Maynigo said he was on the second floor of his house preparing to go to Nueva Ecija at around 3 a.m. of December 3 last year when he noticed a man hiding in the shadows. When the judge called out in alarm, the suspect jumped down the stairs and hurriedly escaped.
Maynigo chased him outside as he called for help but the burglar disappeared from view. But after several minutes, roving policemen of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Fairview station informed him that they had caught a man, later identified as Habijan, whom the judge tagged as the thief he had been pursuing. However, none of the items stolen from his house was recovered.
Habijan is currently detained at the Quezon City Jail. Judge Legaspi set the initial hearing of the case on August 27.