MetroBriefs

Man nabbed for stealing girl’s cell phone

ALERT policemen arrested before dawn on Monday a 23-year-old man who allegedly stole a 10-year-old girl’s cell phone in Manila. Operatives of the Manila Police District (MPD) Station 2 caught up with Armando Cabate, a resident of Sevilla Street in Tondo, while he was fleeing after grabbing the young victim’s phone. The policemen later recovered the girl’s cell phone from Cabate. SPO2 Cody Carmelo, MPD Station 2 desk officer, said the girl was standing beside her parents’ stall on Maria Payo Street at around 2:15 a.m. Monday when Cabate grabbed the cell phone in her hand and took off. The victim, however, cried for help, catching the attention of bystanders and several policemen who were on patrol. Cabate remains detained at the police station’s holding cell pending the filing of a robbery charge against him with the city prosecutor’s office. Jeannette I. Andrade

Fetus found in Quezon City

A FETUS was found wrapped in a T-shirt Monday morning in Cubao, Quezon City. The seven to eight-month-old fetus was discovered at around 8 a.m. on 14th Avenue in Murphy, Cubao, according to PO3 Reggie Torita of the Quezon City Police District’s Station 7. Aside from the T-shirt, a piece of cloth was found tied around the fetus’ neck, Torita said. Police are still investigating whether there were any pregnant women living near the area where the fetus was found. The fetus was turned over to a nearby funeral home. Hans Joshua Dantes, contributor

Cop wanted for indiscriminate firing yields

THE policeman who accidentally shot and wounded two teenagers in Parañaque City over the weekend is now in the custody of the police, a police official said Monday. SPO2 Sammy Paneda surrendered to his fellow lawmen after the police tracked him down in his relatives’ home in Barangay San Vicente in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, on Easter Sunday. Paneda was turned over to the Parañaque City police on Monday for further investigation. Supt. Edgardo Roquero, the police chief of Bacoor in Cavite where Paneda is assigned, said in a phone interview on Monday that the policeman had claimed that the two boys were accidentally hit when he fired warning shots to scare off a thief who entered his house on Black Saturday. The bullets hit and wounded the two teenagers aged 16 and 14. The teenagers were just walking inside the compound where Paneda lives. “He is a good [policeman]. We were surprised about what happened,” Roquero said. He added that Paneda went into hiding because he was afraid that he was going to be arrested when Philippine National Police chief Director General Raul Bacalzo ordered a manhunt for him. Paneda had also denied reports that he was drunk when he fired his gun, according to Roquero. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon