Burglary spoils Marikina restaurant’s launch

MANILA, Philippines—A restaurant in Marikina City lost much of its stock of food and beverages in a burglary on the eve of its opening, the police said.

Aside from losing key items on its inaugural menu, the management of Fines Herbs Restaurant on Katipunan Street, Barangay Concepcion, also reported the theft of a coffee maker and a cooler, according to SPO1 Charles Pacquing Jr. of the Marikina police.

In a statement to investigators, Paul John Lakasa, a stay-in waiter at the restaurant owned by Lourdes Santos, said he went to sleep on the second floor of the establishment around 11 p.m. Sunday after finishing the preparations for Monday’s opening.

He woke up the following day to find the kitchen on the ground floor in disarray. Pacquing said the still unidentified thief destroyed the padlock on the restaurant’s backdoor and took containers packed with pork, salmon, tuna, shrimps and other ingredients, as well as six bottles of wine and seven cans of soda.

The restaurant, which is located in between a vacant lot and a construction site, was forced to postpone its opening because of the incident.