PRO-7 joins SRP money probe, to help identify those who did not return cash

Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, PRO-7 spokesperson | Emmariel Ares

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The PRO-7 has warned those who picked some cash that fell off from the bag of a collector at the SRP to return them.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of PRO-7 Director Police Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, said those who will not do so will be charged with theft.

According to Pelare, the regional police are helping in the investigation of the persons who picked up the money scattered along the South Road Properties (SRP) on Tuesday, July 4.

Pelare reminded those involved to return the money as it is their moral and legal obligation to do so.

“Naa pay P1.9 million nga wala mauli. So please do your moral duty and your legal duty to return it. Pag dili ninyo ireturn, then Police Regional Office 7 will file cases against you.”

Pelare said they are now starting to look into videos in order to identify those who got the money.

READ: P4 million in cash flies out of bag in SRP, collector pleads finders to return money

The PRO-7 spokesperson said that it will be easier to identify those who picked up some money at the SRP because of the pictures and videos online, CCTV footage, and witnesses.

He added that they are also coordinating with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Cebu City Traffic Enforcement to identify the persons involved.

Out of the nearly P4 million stored inside the bag on the day of the incident, the collector was able to recover P2,00,083.

On Tuesday, some honest civilians turned over P21,150 to the police station in Mambaling and P13,500 to the Carbon Police Station.

While on Wednesday, civilians returned P10,200 and P3,050. At around 12:09 on Thursday, P10,700 was collected.

READ: SRP CASH INCIDENT: Those who won’t return money of embattled collector may face legal consequences 

However, no money was turned over to the Mambaling Police Station on Friday, July 7, said desk officer, Police Staff Sergeant Jeprey Ceba.

As of Friday, three days after the incident, the collector has recovered P2,058,683. There is still P1,941,3 that has not been returned.

John Mark Barrientos, a remittance collector, lost nearly P4 million in cash when the zipper of his money bag suddenly broke while he was riding his motorcycle along the northbound lane of Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) on Tuesday afternoon.

The collector said that he did not notice that the money was falling out of the bag until a driver tailing him told him about what happened.  /rcg

READ: New LTO-7 chief says they will help SRP collector retrieve unreturned cash

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