Pasay ‘cable guys’ strike again

MANILA, Philippines—Around 10 barangays in Pasay City have been rendered “incommunicado” since Monday after unidentified men tried to steal underground phone and Internet cables, the Inquirer learned.

The cables were damaged in the aborted theft and repairs were under way, according to Mon Isberto, corporate communications chief of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Residents and local officials said the affected villages were mostly those along FB Harrison and Libertad streets.

The Pasay police on Thursday said they had yet to receive a report from the barangays regarding the incident.

Since February, however, they have arrested seven men initially believed to be tunneling their way from manholes to pawnshops but who claimed that they were only after the underground cables.

One suspect then said the copper wires could be sold to junk shops at P260 per kilo and that his group got away with as much as 10 kilos in one week before they were caught. Maricar B. Brizuela and Miguel Camus