SM City replies

I got a copy of the January 18, 2012 letter of SM sent by the mall’s lawyer to Lester L. Leada, “Chief of Police,” Bacolod City Police Office, Station 2. I placed the “chief of police” in quotation marks because had SM’s lawyer bothered to check, Leada is not chief of police of this city and Leada did not sign as CoP of Bacolod.

The SM letter is a response to the letter of Police Senior Inspector Lester L. Leada of Station 2 to the CRO Department of SM City Bacolod regarding the Theft Case of November 29 which I wrote about involving a stolen credit card that was used to buy jewelries in F & C Jewelry Store in SM. 

The January 16 letter of P/Insp Leada asked SM for cooperation in the investigation. SM received his letter the same day and in two days SM wrote a reply. Quite fast but nothing more to help in the investigation and in fact, SM just brushed the whole thing aside with a curt statement that “SM Department Store is not privy to the contract” as this is between the victim and the credit card company.

This is correct and SM says unless it is advised and once the credit card company has approved the transaction when it swiped the card, then SM has nothing to do with the whole thing.

Now here is the bite. SM says “identification is not required unless the credit card is being transacted under suspicious circumstances.” The thief bought over P75,000 in jewelries and the clerk did not consider this reason enough to ask for identification? In other places or stores, a purchase of over P5,000 or even less, unless the holder is known to the clerk, the store always asks for identification.

As for  SM – thieves of credit cards should be happy about this policy although at one time a woman bought with a credit card  just about P3,000 worth and the SM cashier at the counter near their book store and gift packing area in the North Wing compared the signature on the card and the receipt. I know because I was standing next to her.

The police initial investigation said that the stolen credit card was swiped by the sales clerk not at the nearest cashier but in another cashier’s counter. Nobody in SM would say which. Right after the sales clerk left as it was allegedly her time off already.

It would have been easier for the police to ask the sales clerk but she did not come back and nobody would tell who she was. Would it hurt SM to require its tenant to help the police?

It would have been to SM’s interest but why is it unwilling to help? Is it because it can thumb its nose at the Bacolod police and the police command would whine like a dog with its tail between its legs?  Are the police in Bacolod under SM’s control? The continued silence of its chief makes us think so.

To the request of Inspector Leada to view the “CCTV footage to determine the identity the person who transacted the credit card,” SM’s lawyer wrote with a bucket of sarcasm that the victim “was fully aware that there was no CCTV camera installed in the area…”

How in the world would a person or police know that this multi-million mall of a multi- billion company has no CCTV? How stupid of people to think that SM would install such an expensive machine that only bookstores and restaurants have!

SM’ says that the sales girl (Ah, there was one but not available for the police?) was asked to view CCTV at the entrance and she “was not certain about the exact features of the person.” So, now there is a CCTV at the entrance and it has footages of people coming in and out.

Is SM contradicting itself? There is CCTV for SM to view but not the police who are in better position to identify. Moreover the police have files of suspects and they can see what a sales clerk cannot.

But why would SM do this? Does SM not want to cooperate and is withholding information that can lead to the solution of a crime?

Now here is craziest thing I have ever read! The SM lawyer says SM told Leada it “would appreciate if you can furnish us photo/s of the suspect so that they can be shown to the employee/s who transacted the credit card for identification.”*

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