Robber breaks into house; Cebu City dad appeals for better curfew implementation

Screenshots of the CCTV footage showing an armed robber entering the house of Councilor James Cuenco. 

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor James Cuenco is appealing to the police to implement the curfew better after his house was robbed by an unknown armed individual.

Cuenco told CDN Digital that the robber was able to enter his home in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City undetected, and he even entered his room while he was sleeping.

On Thursday early morning, Cuenco found out that a pair of pants and his wallet were lost from his room and so they checked the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage, and they found out that a man bringing what seemed to be a long firearm entered the house.

“Nangapa siya kay ngitngit man pero klaro kaayo sa CCTV. Pagkuha niya sa akong pants ug wallet, nisutoy ra man sad,” said Cuenco.

(The robber was groping at things because it was dark but the CCTV footage showed what he did clearly. When he managed to get the pants, and wallet, he then quickly left the room.)

None of Cuenco’s household members were harmed in the incident and nothing else was taken from the house.

The incident was immediately reported to the Guadalupe Police Station and the police are currently investigating the incident.

Cuenco said the police promised to deploy more nighttime patrols as well in the area to avoid similar incidents from happening to Cuenco and his neighbors.

However, the councilor is more concerned about the greater implication of this nighttime robbery for the city.

The councilor said that if this happened to him, it could happen to many more residents in the city when it shouldn’t be able to happen because of the existing 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew being imposed due to the quarantine.

“Ngano wala man mabantayan nga naa man untay curfew. I hope nga better unta ang pagbantay sa curfew nga walay maglaroy-laroy,” said Cuenco.

(Why was he not noticed when a curfew was in effect. I hope that they would closely monitor the curfew so that no one would be out on the streets.)

The councilor appeals to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to improve their nighttime monitoring, especially during the curfew because the last thing the people suffering through the pandemic would need to experience would be a household robbery.

He said the curfew should have been an added deterrent not only in the spread of the COVID-19 but also of nighttime crimes.

For the sake of other residents, Cuenco appeals to the police to increase their police visibility at night to prevent these crimes.

Cuenco is the latest victim of subsequent crimes in the city during the past weeks amid day time shootings, killings, and other crimes.

Acting Mayor Michael Rama has already directed the CCPO to increase police visibility and improve monitoring amid these crimes.

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