The thief forcibly opened the drawers inside the office and stole the cash. | Photo courtesy of Grace Carungay
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan plans to tighten security at the City Hall compound after burglars hit two department offices in separate buildings there in a span of 10 days.
Chan said he planned to install more security cameras or closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) in the different buildings in the City Hall compound as a deterrent for this kind of crimes.
“Ang ato karon, we have the budget for SB (Supplemental Budget) No. 6 for CCTV cameras that were intended for the areas nga wala mabutangi,” he added.
(What we are doing now is we have the budget for SB (supplemental budget) No. 6 for CCTV cameras that were intended for the areas without any CCTVs in the compound.)
Chan’s move to tighten security at the compound was prompted by the burglaries that hit the City Social Welfare and Development Office last September 25 where the burglars fled with laptops, cash and mobile phones and the latest one last October 2 or 3 where the thief stole P50,000 cash at the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit at the City Health Department office.
READ: Thief hits another Lapu-Lapu city hall office, flees with P50K cash
LOOK: Another burglary incident at Lapu-Lapu City Hall compound
In both burglaries, the CCTVs were only in the front of the building offices, which the thieves successfully avoided in breaking in the buildings. In the second burglary, the thief entered through the back of the City Health Department building — particularly through the comfort room window at the second floor.
Aside from installing more CCTVs, he also said that he would put more security guards during the evening and to intensify their roving patrols in the compound at night.
Chan said he would also ask the security guards assigned at night to explain why the burglars were able to get past them.
READ: Police not discounting ‘inside job’ in Lapu CESU burglary
Meanwhile, Chan has partly blamed the burglaries to poverty caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
He also believed that the same persons were the ones responsible for the burglaries.
“Sa paglungkab nila diha’y mga laptop pero wala nila kuhaa. Ang gikuha kwarta ra gyud. Kabalo ta tungod sa kalisod gumikan sa pandemya, we are expecting nga moabot gyud sa punto nga tungod sa kawad-on, mapunta gyud sa kawat,” said Chan of the break-in of the City Health Department office last Saturday or October 2.
(When they broke in the CESU office, there were laptops but they did not steal these. What they took was only the cash. We know that this was done because of their hardship caused by the pandemic. We are expecting this — that there will come a point that due to hopelessness of their situation, they will resort to stealing.)
He, however, did not comment on the September 25 CSWDO office burglary where the thieves fled with the laptops, mobile phones and cash./dbs