[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Oops! D’guete woman returns phone, tablet
But not after video of her ‘stealing’ them goes viral ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
BACOLOD City – Catalina Salarda-Pino did not want to be branded a thief.
The 54-year-old resident of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental showed up at Police Station 1 here on Tuesday to return a cell phone and a tablet computer she claimed she mistook as her own.
But on Monday Facebook users were already feasting on a security camera footage showing a woman — who turned out was Pino — taking gadgets belonging to another customer at SM City Bacolod.
Pino said she only knew about the video on Tuesday when she went to the police station.
“Sorry sa tag-iya nga napagkamalan ko. Dinampot ko indi sa akin, sorry talaga,” she said. “Nagpareho lang, akala ko sa akin, hindi pala.”
The post by Facebook user Jing Abada on Monday had at least 345,000 views, 3,000 “likes” and 8,900 shares.
According to Abada, the incident happened at BongBong’s pasalubong center on Nov. 10.
The footage showed a woman, whom Abada identified as “Dr. Quiboloy,” placing her gadgets at the counter while paying for some items. After a while, Dr. Quiboloy left, forgetting her valuables.
Another woman next in line — Pino — surreptitiously covered the gadgets and slipped them into her bag.
Abada called on the woman to return the gadgets.
Pino claimed she did not know the gadgets she took were not hers — at least not at first. It was only when they were already in Dumaguete that she noticed.
She said her gadgets and the ones she took had similar colors. That they had a lot of gadgets at home — Pino claimed were children were in Japan and America — made her even more confused, she said.
At the time at BongBong’s they were in a hurry because they were about to check out of a hotel after attending an event of her grandchild, she explained.
On Tuesday when Pino turned over the gadgets to Police Station 1, the Facebook post was taken down.
“Lost gadgets by Dr. Quiboloy were already turned over to Police Station 1,” Abada posted on the social media site. “The issue was settled this morning so I opted to delete the video. May [the incident] serve as a milestone for honesty and vigilance.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
