Cop accused of stealing suicide victim’s P15K

A POLICEMAN who was the first one to respond when a tailor was reported to have killed himself in Manila has been accused of stealing the victim’s money.

Nenita Santiago went to the Manila Police District headquarters on Saturday afternoon to file a report against SPO4 Noel Villamor who is assigned to the Sta. Cruz station. The 58-year-old widow alleged that the police officer took her husband’s wallet which contained P15,000.

Case investigator PO3 Alonzo Layugan said that at 8:10 p.m. on Christmas Day, Santiago’s husband Al was found dead by a fellow vendor inside his stall at Central Market on Quezon Boulevard in Sta. Cruz. He added that Santiago learned of her husband’s death after Villamor sent her a text message.

As the first one to respond, Villamor was tasked to secure the crime scene before officers from the homicide division arrive.

Santiago told Layugan that she grew suspicious when she received text messages from Villamor telling her that he had with him the victim’s wallet containing P5,000.

However, she claimed that her husband had P15,000 with him as he had just sold his sewing machine hours before he took his life, supposedly because he felt depressed as his business was going bankrupt. Jovic Yee