beware and always be careful

i do not want to talk about this or post or recall about what happened to me
last friday night but i guess, if i was not able to do something that night,
i should be doing something so others will prevent it from happening to them.

last friday night, after dinner at the apartment, i went back to the office
to render overtime.
every night, we would usually eat at the apartment coz eating out is very expensive.
that night, was just the usual night for us.
dinner, then overtime.
everytime, we would just walk from the office to the apartment and back to the office
taking the same route everyday.

the road was in so much traffic that time which is very unlikely. they said that
there was an accident somewhere around jy creating the traffic.
while in the area near the corner to IT park, rinnel made me walk ahead coz of the
traffic and so many jeepneys are passing by.
just in time that i went ahead of him, someone in motorcycly snatched my bag.
i was in shock and all i could do was shout something
i was not even shouting snatcher or kawatan or what, i was just shouting at them
rinnel tried catching them
i tried running but my mind is blank and i do not know what to do
somewhere halfway the block, i felt like i am losing consciousness and fainting
i tried asking for help but the guards and those people just listened to
my story and did nothing
same as what the police did when i saw rinnel near jy
the police is just interviewing him and did not do anything to catch the thief

the police tried calling at their station but since we were not able to get the
plate number of the motorcycle, they told us to just have it reported at their
station and that's it

we went to the station and the police kept on ranting why we were not able to get
the plate number, and its hard for them to chase, etc etc
i was so pissed that i told him this:
"lagi nong wla na namo nakuha ang plate number kay ngcge man sya liko liko sa mga
jeep, so unsa man amo buhaton? wla mo patrol na pwede maka adto ato na mga areas nya
pangitaon cla or at least ang bag lang man nko? gi advisan mi sa police na mag
pablotter, mao na ni ang blotteR?!"
"yes, unfortunately we were not able to get the plate number because they tried to pass
through the jeepneys and it was hard to get it. what shall we do next? don't you have any
patrol to search the area? we were advised to have blotter, is this it?
(did i translate it correctly? the bisaya one has more emotions)

anyways, he just pointed to us the police officer that will do the blotter. we talked to the other
police. i again told them my suggestion to have some patrol check the area, we again went
out, they contacted their officers but they were still in SRP and it is still far so we
just continued telling the event to them and have it recorded.


we went to the office afterwards. i had my cards blocked, transfered my money to other
accounts not in the atm that was inside my bag and borrowed key for the apartment.


i went home feeling frustrated. i was blaming myself for refusing rinnel's offer
to carry my bag. i was not bringing my extra phone for several weeks and it was
just on that day that i bought it, i should have left my cards, atm and passport
at the office or at home, i should have wear my shoulder bag properly, put it in my
shoulder and put it not near the street side, and all other stuffs


it was only at home that i cried and i felt mixed emotions of anger, fear, and shock.
i know those material things can be replaced..i was thankful though that nothing
happened to us especially to rinnel who tried running after them.

i had a hard time getting to sleep even until now. i would feel scared what if they
would recognize me because of all the pictures i had in my fon, in my ID, and all the
information about me. i am scared because i am thinking what if those persons were
actually spying on us and they knew that we would always pass by those areas on those
times. i am scared because all the while i thought that that place was safe for us.
almost all of the people from the office would just walk and pass by that area.

i realized that nowhere's safe and one should be on the look out always.

i hope this will never again happen to anyone. please always be on the lookout
on your things even your at places you thought are safe. if possible, those
really important stuffs should be kept at home or at the office. in my case,
i was brigning them for purposes that i met an accident or something i can use
it as an identification, but i forgot that a different accident can happen to me also.

the next time it happens, i would not recommend that you would try to ran after them.
having a presence of mind in those situation is really necessary. get the plate
number, try to identify the person, shout and ask for help too.

i wished i was able to shout instead of running after them. but i was not able to do
so. my mind was completely blank. i could remember looking at the plate number area
but wat was registered to my mind is only the white or flesh shirt the guy is wearing,
and the white in the plate number area.


i wanted to do something so that the government would try to do something about these.
these are just petty crimes if some would look at. some would even just consider
this as natural. some would just shrug it off and tell you to be careful next time.
this is i guess the reason why it has became very popular.

the police would just think that they are striking again, that it is the new trend, etc.
but haven't they thought of how many people are victims of these crimes. no killings
or what but the mere tolerance of it just because it is hard to detect when the victim
was not able to get the plate number is not an excuse. they can search the area, do
something to catch the robbers. big things comes from small things. these big syndicates
comes from these small robberies and snatchings. i hope someone would try to do
action for these crimes. small or not, these are still crimes. no wounds or even the
damage is not that big, still it is still crimes.

it creates trauma and not good effect on the victim.

until now, i felt so unsafe. i would not want to go out alone, especially going out from
our apartment to work. i cannot prevent overtime for now because we are busy, but i
decided not to go home for dinner yet for now. i must admit that it really scares me that
everytime i tried to sleep i had to turn on the lights, or stay at the sala to watch tv
until im dead tired and i can sleep directly. when left alone, i still can remember
the moment when he got my bag, and when i looked at their direction. when i tried to
recall what is inside my bag, i would feel scared. what if they are always at the it park
area, what if they are just around the area in our apartment and they still recognize
me. this is really crazy, but i fear them a lot, and i am so scared...