3 Iloilo town halls ransacked; burglars take P1.2M

An organized gang is being eyed behind a string of burglaries that targeted the municipal halls of three towns in Iloilo earlier this week.

The burglars made off with some P1.2 million from the town halls of Ajuy, Concepcion and San Dionisio, GMA Iloilo reported Wednesday.

Utility workers at the Ajuy municipal hall discovered the theft of P745,000 from the treasurer and accounting offices on Monday.

"Kung titingnan mo, parang alam ng mga nanloob kung saan ang mga vault. Yung nakakapagtaka pa ay kung bakit kasabay sa Concepcion at San Dionisio… Nagkausap kami ni (Concepcion Mayor Milliard Villanueva), ganun din raw ang modus na ginamit," said Ajuy Mayor Juan Alvarez.

The mayor also questioned why the security guard on duty did not notice the theft.

"(M)ay mga witness na nagsasabing maaga pa raw siyang (security guard) umuwi," he said.

But the guard said he was still at the municipal hall, and that he did not notice anything unusual at the time.

"Wala akong kaalam-alam" he said when asked if he noticed anything unusual.

In Concepcion town, the theft of P281,000 was also discovered Monday at the treasurer's office.

"May koleksyon noong Friday… mga P27,000. Supposedly i-deposit ngayong araw, Lunes. Tapos yung iba pang [pera], pang-sahod," Mayor Villanueva said.

Meanwhile, the San Dionisio town hall lost P250,000.

The mayors of the three towns suspect a single group may have been behind the three burglaries.

But police said they are having difficulty in the investigation since the three towns do not have closed-circuit television systems.

An initial investigation showed the thefts may have been well-planned, and the suspects were familiar with the town halls.

"Ang aming punto is, siguro nakita ng mga suspek na sa loob ng municipal building... nakatago ang pinakamaraming valuables sa treasurer’s office and the ... vulnerability ng treasurer’s office nakita rin nila kaya pinasok nila ang tatlong mga bayan," said Iloilo provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas.

Further investigation also showed the burglars used the same method to open the vaults in the three town halls.

"Ang mode of attack or characteristics (are) almost the same," said Chief Inspector Hilarion Roga of the Scene of the Crime Operations team. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News