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"I lost everything. My whole bag, my books, notes and my ATM Card," said Manjit Sohal, a member of UP POLSCi.
David Ong, an applicant of the said organization, said, "I lost P1,400, my lanyard and my pencil case."
The incident happened between 5:45 and 6:00 p.m. while no one was in the said room. CSSPSC Chairperson Jay Bagcal said, "It was not anticipated that nobody will be at the anteroom that time. [The] bags were left unattended so there was nobody to watch over them. The [CSSPSC] office is generally open to anyone, hence more prone to break-ins."
The power outage may have also caused the burglars to go unnoticed, added Bagcal.
"We left our bags to go out and eat isaw [outside AS]. But when Reina (Bermudez, the UP POLSCi president) came back at around 6:00, my bag [and David’s bag were] already gone," Sohal said.
Ong added that he left his bag for his final interview (FI) for the organization while half of the members left their bags to eat outside while he was having his FI.
When asked why members of UP POLSCi left their bags at the anteroom, both Sohal and Ong said, "[We] just usually leave our bags here since they’re heavy." The two described the incident as "bad luck and circumstantial."
CSSP was one of the colleges that experienced brown-out that day around 3:30-6:15 p.m.
Ian Richard Cortez, CSSPSC secretary–general, said, "This is not the first time this happened. Even Kuya Jay himself lost P105,000 worth of gadgets [in the office]. In the future, we may put ‘Do not leave your things unattended' signs and maybe even have a logbook to monitor what’s going on."
The council has yet to implement measures to prevent further burglaries.
Meanwhile, Dennis Nieva, a guard of the college, suggested the possibility of an inside job. Nieva said, "Posibleng estudyante ang kumuha ng mga bag. Pero hindi mo rin alam, brown-out noong mga panahong iyon kaya hindi mo masisigurado." (It is possible that a student was the one who got the bags. But you will never know, it was brown-out when the incident happened so you can never be sure.)
As of presstime, there is still no lead for the suspect.
Article by: Gromico Chopitea
