Burglars steal P10M from QC apartment

ROBBERS broke into an apartment in a commercial and residential complex in Quezon City over the weekend and made off with around P10 million in cash, jewelry, dinnerware and appliances. The burglary was discovered on Sunday afternoon after Maria Crisanta Isidoro and her family returned home from their out-of-town trip. Isidoro, the administrator of the Halili Complex on Aurora Boulevard where she also resides, told Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit probers that they left their apartment on Friday morning. When they came back on Sunday afternoon, she found several valuables missing, including diamond rings, necklaces and bracelets as well as diamond-studded wristwatches and two pairs of antique dangling earrings. Isidoro also reported stolen a set of gold spoons and forks, an antique saucer set, more than P200,000 in local currency and other denominations, in addition to two flat-screen television sets and an electric fan. According to case investigator PO3 Erickson Isidro, the burglars entered the apartment through a window on the second floor. They then ransacked all the rooms inside the two-story apartment after forcibly opening the doors which had been locked.  QCPD-CIDU theft and robbery section head Chief Insp. Allan de la Cruz said they were reviewing footage taken by a closed circuit television camera to help them identify the thieves. Jeannette I. Andrade

Tenacious trader shot dead by robbers

THREE armed robbers killed on Monday afternoon a tenacious junk shop owner in Novaliches, Quezon City, who chased them after they stole P85,000 in cash from him. LVM junk shop owner Leonilo Marquez, a 49-year-old resident of Panday Pira Street in Doña Rosario Subdivision, was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Bernardino General Hospital due to multiple gunshot wounds. PO2 Julius Caesar Balbuena of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the incident happened at 12:30 p.m. on Monday inside the victim’s junk shop at the corner of Reynaldo and General Luis Streets in Novaliches. Balbuena said that Marquez’s secretary had just come back from the bank where she withdrew the money when three armed men barged into the shop and declared a heist. Marquez tried to fight off the robbers but he was shot in the shoulder and legs. Despite his injuries, he ran after the robbers who were escaping on a motorcycle until they saw him and shot him again. Scene of Crime Operation personnel found at the scene four casings for 9 mm and .45-cal. pistols and a slug  from a  .45-cal. pistol. Balbuena said they were looking into the possibility that the robbers may have followed the victim’s secretary from the bank which was just near the junk shop. Jeannette I. Andrade

Depressed teenager-single mom kills self

DEPRESSION and incessant worrying apparently drove a 17-year-old single mother to kill herself on Monday night, according to a police report. SPO1 Richard Escarian of the Manila Police District homicide section said that Jennelyn Bautista was found dead with a single gunshot wound in the head inside her room at their house on Quiricada Street in Sta. Cruz, Manila. She was declared dead on arrival at the nearby Metropolitan Hospital.  According to the victim’s brother, John Christian, his sister had been fighting depression since she gave birth a year ago to a baby girl. “She was always worried about how she could raise her daughter by her former boyfriend,” he said in his statement to the police. He added that at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, the family was having dinner when the victim suddenly stood up and left the table. He said they saw her go up the stairs and heard her close the door to her room. After a few seconds, John Christian said they heard a gunshot although they did not immediately think that it came from his sister’s room. “We thought our neighbor had broken some glass. However, when we checked her room, my sister was lying on the floor in a puddle of blood with a 9 mm pistol in her hand,” he told the police.  He said they rushed her to the nearest hospital but she was declared dead on arrival. Nancy C. Carvajal