Holy Week was good week for thieves in the Philippines

As expected, this year’s Holy Week too proved to be a good time for thieves in the Philippines to burgle houses and businesses, as people go home to their native provinces or travel on vacation while schools and offices were closed during the week.

Matinee idol Aljur Abrenica became one of the victims this past week as he lost cash, pieces of jewellery and high-end electronic products valued at 600,000 pesos (about Dh54,000) to robbers who entered his house.

A mainstay talent with GMA Artist Centre, the 23-year-old Abrenica, who resides at Scout Fernandez Street in Quezon City’s Barangay Sacred Heart, had gone on vacation with his family during the Lenten break.

QCPD Special Officer Jose Soriano said the actor’s house was turned upside down, with the main door locks busted and clothes, books and kitchenware scattered all over, especially on the second floor where the bedrooms are, indicating that the robbers had entered by force and left in haste.

Abrenica and his family left on Holy Wednesday and came back on Black Saturday, according to the tabloid ‘Pilipino Star Ngayon’.

The tabloid ‘Pilipino Star Ngayon’ on Monday quoted the Kamuning Station of Quezon City Police District (QCPD) as saying that robbers also took 800,000 pesos (about Dh72,000) when they entered by force a money remittance centre and a cosmetics shop, both in Metro Manila’s Quezon City.

The thieves seemed to have busied themselves looting other people’s properties in Quezon City from Wednesday to Saturday, as they also burgled the Western Union remittance centre and HBC Inc (Home of Beauty Exclusives), both at Splash Arcade on Tuayan Street and Quezon Avenue, in Barangay Tatalon.

Police Superintendent Norberto Babagay, chief of Galas Police Station, also in Quezon City, said the robberies occurred between 6pm on Friday and 6.30am on Saturday, when most houses and business establishments were closed and had no watchmen.

Police kill four drug syndicate members

Four members of a drug syndicate were killed on Sunday in an encounter with the combined team of policemen and ‘barangay tanod’ or village peace and security officers, in Manila’s Tondo district, the tabloid ‘Pilipino Star Ngahon’ said.

A barangay tanod, identified as Junrey Cabual, is now fighting for his life at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Centre after the encounter. The 35-year-old Cabual, a resident of Tondo’s Barangay 649, Zone 68, suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach.

The Manila Police District-Baseco Police Community Precinct (MPD-PCP) identified the two gang members who died as Ato Mohammad, 36, and Alvin Pilas, 19, both residents of Block 7, Lot 80, Baseco Compound, in Manila’s Port Area.

Chief Inspector Nocolas Pi?on, who led the MPD-PCP group, said police are still working on identifying the two other gang members who died in the encounter at Baseco Compound.

The police team recovered two .45-calibre and two .38-calibre pistols from the dead gang members while the rest of their companions managed to escape, according to the ‘Pilipino Star Ngayon’.

Pinon said his team went to Baseco Compound at noon on Sunday to investigate into alleged gunshots heard by residents on the night of Black Saturday when two boys, identified as Gabz Gabinete, 10, and Arnie Legato, 8, both residents of the compound, were hit by stray bullets.

He added that when he and his team arrived at a warehouse-like structure in the compound being used by the syndicate in their drug operations, the gang members opened fire immediately, prompting the cops to respond.

Police are investigating reports from the residents that there was an altercation between disgruntled members of the gang and some of their superiors that resulted in the exchange of gunfire.