The mother of a participant in the 2013 Batang Pinoy National Championship lost her bag at their billeting area in Brgy. Mansilingan. Bacolod City, Thursday night.

Normelita Bonita, 45, of Tagum City, Davao del Norte, said yesterday that she placed her bag under the mattress near her feet when she went to sleep at about 10 p.m. Thursday, in one of the rooms at the Agro-Industrial High School.

When she woke up at about 5:30 a.m., her bag was gone, she said. When they checked the area, they saw her bag with its contents scattered, behind the room, near the window grills, she said.

However, her wallet containing two ATMs and P5,000 in cash was gone, Bonita said.

Police investigation showed that the suspects, believed to be outsiders, climbed the mango tree behind the school and jumped from it to gain entry to the compound.

A bamboo stick with a hook at its end, believed used by the suspect was recovered from the crime scene, police records show.

Bonita said her problem now are the expenses of her 9-year-old daughter, a contestant in the dance sports competition, since she does not have extra money.

In two years of joining the Batang Pinoy, Bonita said this is the first time that they have stayed in a distant place, and this happened to them.

She said she never expected that thieves would use a bamboo hook to fish out the bag.

Bonita, said she was disappointed, and told the media that she never expected that Bacolod could be so “unsecured.”

Delegates, coaches and parents from Davao del Norte transferred to a pension house at about 1 p.m. yesterday, in fear that the another similar incident would happen.

Supt. Jefferson Descallar, deputy city police director for operations, said yesterday that the four policemen assigned at the billeting area will be questioned about the incident.

Descallar appealed to the delegates, who will be in the city until tomorrow, to be extra careful with their belongings.*SGG

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