Speaker’s nephew loses SUV to masked QC thief

A nephew of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte lost his sport utility vehicle (SUV) to a thief Sunday afternoon shortly after parking it in a commercial area in Quezon City, police said.

Raymond Belmonte, 47, a resident of San Juan City, reported the loss of his black Toyota Land Cruiser (UNW-133), which he said was stolen near Thompson Square Plaza at the corner of Tomas Morato and A. Roces Avenues in Barangay (village) Obrero.

According to a report by Supt. Limuel Obon, commander of the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) Kamuning station, the SUV was stolen around 3 p.m. by a man wearing a face mask and a blue cap.

Obon said Belmonte, his wife and their son parked the SUV before entering a restaurant on Tomas Morato. Minutes later, Belmonte’s son saw the vehicle being driven by the masked man.

PO2 Jayson Darriguez said Thompson Square Plaza has its own parking lot but the SUV was parked just outside it.

The case had been turned over to the QCPD’s anticar theft unit, Obon said.

Speaker Belmonte is a former mayor of Quezon City.—Jeannette I. Andrade