CEBU CITY – A Catholic Church here was burglarized and lost four microphones valued at a total of P65,000.
SURVEILLANCE camera shows a man entering San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Church in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City to steal four microphones.
Security footage showed that the burglary at the San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Church in Barangay Tisa was carried out by a lone male perpetrator.
Church management said the first burglary happened on Monday morning, March 17.
The second burglary occurred on Wednesday, March 19, where the burglar was seen making the sign of the cross before taking the microphones.
Lito Papellero, driver and caretaker of the church, said they discovered the first burglary when the choir started looking for the microphones to use for a Mass.
Closed-circuit television footage was reviewed but the burglar was not identified.
The church was shocked the burglary happened again on Wednesday with the suspect taking a set of microphones again.
Papellero said they decided not to report the incident to the police as they thought the perpetrator will be bothered by his conscience and will decide to return the stolen items.
Days passed but these were not returned, prompting Papellero to post the footage of the theft on his Facebook account.
The incident was reported to the Labangon Police Station when it was learned that the culprit is a resident of Barangay Labangon.
Papellero said the church management will not file charges as long as the microphones will be returned.
Police Lt. Col. Maria Theresa Macatangay, deputy city director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office, recommended the filing of charges once the culprit is identified.
Macatangay said filing of charges will help prevent similar incidents from happening again.