Young pickpocket victimizes Cebu policewoman

CEBU CITY, Philippines – An 11-year-old girl was arrested on Friday afternoon for allegedly stealing the wallet of a policewoman along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City.

Police Officer 1 Irish Buena, 34, was busy looking at the bags displayed by vendors on the sidewalk along Osmeña Boulevard when she noticed that the girl had opened her belt bag tucked in her waist.

The girl got the wallet and tried to escape but the policewoman chased the girl and arrested her. Buena brought the girl to the Waterfront Police Precinct.

Buena, a resident of Alcantara town who is assigned at the Carcar City police station, recovered her wallet containing the P1,620.

The girl, who kept on crying, claimed that she was forced to steal the wallet because she needed the money to get her birth certificate, a requirement for enrollment in Grade 1.

The girl said she was the youngest of five siblings, each of whom have their own families, and stayed with her unemployed mother in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Senior Police Officer 2 Darryl Alalim, investigator of the Waterfront Police precinct, said they recovered another P400 from the girl.

When asked about that amount, the girl admitted that she took it from other victims.

Alalim said the girl would be turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.