MABALACAT, Pampanga – A surveillance camera caught a group of suspected thieves pretending to be customers while surreptitiously stealing the bag of a woman with her grandchild at the next table at MacDonald’s in Barangay Dau here Wednesday night.
But when the police arrived, bureaucratic procedures at the fast food chain outlet prevented them access to the recording made by the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, thus stalling pursuit operations. The culprits have remained at large.
“It was a situation that needed immediate response. The recording might have enabled the police to have basis to pursue the group and pin them down immediately,” lamented Ashley Manabat, provincial chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) whose wife Juliet was the victim.
Manabat said that Juliet was with their granddaughter and the latter’s nanny at MacDonald’s at about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday.
“There was a group of four women and two men who were seated at the table behind her. Even before her shoulder bag vanished, she had already noticed one of the women acting suspiciously, but she ignored this,” Manabat said.
When the suspects were on their way out, Juliet noticed her handbag gone and started to shout for help.
Manabat, who was attending a meeting in San Fernando, said he rushed to Dau after he got a call from a friend who witnessed the incident and found no police at the restaurant. “My wife was there and things went on as if nothing had happened at MacDo,” he noted.
He said the police arrived only after he called for help. “The police asked to be allowed to view the recording of the CCTV, but they were refused by personnel who insisted that permission from their higher bosses was still needed. They also said that only the police station chief would be allowed to view the CCTV monitor and that a formal request would be needed if the police would want a copy of the recording,” he noted.
A tricycle driver who identified himself as Bert Policarpio who noticed the commotion later said he had driven the suspects to Dau Homesite subdivision.
Manabat said that the station police chief was later allowed to view the recording which revealed that one of the suspects actually bought food from the counter before Juliet’s handbag was passed on to him.
MacDonald’s personnel at the Dau branch avoided commenting on the case, saying they had no permission to do so. But one who did not identify herself said that personnel who were present during the crime had immediately called the police who, however, did not respond immediately. “Di ba ganun naman talaga ang pulis?” she remarked.
She also said that there was an immediate attempt to run after the suspects who, however, were able to flee. She admitted, however, that the policemen were indeed refused immediate access to the CCTV recording as a matter of policy.
But when the police arrived, bureaucratic procedures at the fast food chain outlet prevented them access to the recording made by the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, thus stalling pursuit operations. The culprits have remained at large.
“It was a situation that needed immediate response. The recording might have enabled the police to have basis to pursue the group and pin them down immediately,” lamented Ashley Manabat, provincial chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) whose wife Juliet was the victim.
Manabat said that Juliet was with their granddaughter and the latter’s nanny at MacDonald’s at about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday.
“There was a group of four women and two men who were seated at the table behind her. Even before her shoulder bag vanished, she had already noticed one of the women acting suspiciously, but she ignored this,” Manabat said.
When the suspects were on their way out, Juliet noticed her handbag gone and started to shout for help.
Manabat, who was attending a meeting in San Fernando, said he rushed to Dau after he got a call from a friend who witnessed the incident and found no police at the restaurant. “My wife was there and things went on as if nothing had happened at MacDo,” he noted.
He said the police arrived only after he called for help. “The police asked to be allowed to view the recording of the CCTV, but they were refused by personnel who insisted that permission from their higher bosses was still needed. They also said that only the police station chief would be allowed to view the CCTV monitor and that a formal request would be needed if the police would want a copy of the recording,” he noted.
A tricycle driver who identified himself as Bert Policarpio who noticed the commotion later said he had driven the suspects to Dau Homesite subdivision.
Manabat said that the station police chief was later allowed to view the recording which revealed that one of the suspects actually bought food from the counter before Juliet’s handbag was passed on to him.
MacDonald’s personnel at the Dau branch avoided commenting on the case, saying they had no permission to do so. But one who did not identify herself said that personnel who were present during the crime had immediately called the police who, however, did not respond immediately. “Di ba ganun naman talaga ang pulis?” she remarked.
She also said that there was an immediate attempt to run after the suspects who, however, were able to flee. She admitted, however, that the policemen were indeed refused immediate access to the CCTV recording as a matter of policy.
