Chinese nabbed for theft of power line parts in Ormoc

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ORMOC CITY — A Chinese national, who owns a junk shop here, is facing charges for theft of parts of overhead power lines.

The suspect was identified as William Sy, 30, and a native of Fuqing, China, who has been living in Barangay San Isidro here.

Sy was temporarily detained at the locked up cell at the police station 3 in Barangay Linao pending resolution of the complaints for violation of Republic Act 7832 and Anti-Fencing Law.

RA 7832 is an act penalizing the pilferage of electricity and theft of electric power transmission lines/materials.

The complaint stemmed from the raid conducted on Sy’s warehouse on Jan. 20 where the police found parts of overhead electric lines owned by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

The raid was done on the strength of the search warrant issued by Executive Judge James Clinton Nuevo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 12.

Recovered from the warehouse were one-foot long aluminum-clad steel reinforce, one three-feet-long armored rod for 138 kilovolts and five pieces of armored rod for 69 kV.

Sy told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview that he didn’t know that the armored rods and ACSR were owned by the NGCP when he bought them.

He added it was the first time that stolen items were brought to his junk shop, which had been operating in Ormoc for years.  SFM