October 23, 2001 (Part I)

Time heals wounds.

What follows is the report I made some 6 years ago. Names of persons and programs have been replaced to protect the identities of the other people concerned.

What do I make of all these? How has this event changed my life? Do I still harbor residual resentment towards certain people and situations?

Why post this at all?

First, the events as they unfolded and how I saw them.

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23 October 2001
10:30 a.m.
[W] Department
[Z] University

The [xxxxxxxxxxxx: name of program] ([YYY]: acronym for program) is a series of lecture-seminars in [W] for high school students, most of whom are from Metro Manila. I, [ubermensch], 22 years old, born 20 October 1979, Assistant Instructor of the [W] Department of the [Z] University, am in charge of managing the [YYY] for school year 2001-2002. The registration fees (P1,000.00 per participating high school student) have been entrusted to me. We had collected around P150,000.00 so far. They were kept in my drawer, which I always lock. It was my intention to deposit them to Bank of the Philippine Islands (Loyola Katipunan Branch) Account Number [xxxx-xxxx-xx (account now non-existent)] of [ubermensch] or [Mr. San Pedro] as soon as I found the time. [Mr. San Pedro], a Part-time Lecturer of the [Z] [W] Department, is part of the team organizing the [YYY] for this school year.

Until 17 October 2001, Wednesday, I haven’t deposited the amount as I was kept busy by tasks I had to do since the previous weeks, for the Conference on Graph Theory and Discrete Geometry, an international conference sponsored by our department. On the afternoon of the 17^th, I was thinking of leaving the money locked in my drawer, to our department secretary, [Ms. Romero], since I was scheduled to leave dawn of 18 October 2001, Thursday, for Baguio for the annual Faculty Rest and Recreation. We were scheduled to be back on 21 October 2001, Sunday. However, [Mr. San Pedro] told me that it wasn’t necessary as I could lock my drawer anyway. I conceded to that, since leaving the money with the secretary didn’t seem to be a significant step, as she was bound to lock up the money in her drawer anyway. [Mr. San Pedro] was also with me in Baguio so he also couldn’t deposit the money. [Ms. Pineda] and [Mr. Abada], the other members of the team managing the [YYY] and also Assistant Instructors of the [Z] [W] Department, also couldn’t deposit the money since [Ms. Pineda] went with us to Baguio, while [Mr. Abada] attended a conference in Iloilo. Thus, I was forced to leave my money in my drawer, and I made sure I locked my drawer before I left the department the afternoon of the 17^th.

I had the keys to the drawer with me when we were in Baguio. I had always felt secure with leaving money in the department. Other people left their money in their drawers in the department. The person who was in charge of the [YYY] funds last school year, [Ms. Razon] (formerly an Assistant Instructor), also left some cash in the drawer.

21 October 2001, Sunday, the coaster which fetched us from Baguio arrived at the [Z] around 3:30 – 4 p.m. I did not go home immediately since I still had to compute in the Math Department the grades of my students in my Ma22 classes as the distribution of their grades was the day after. When I went up the department and when I checked my drawer, much to my dismay, I found the drawer unlocked. I also didn’t find the bundle of money for the [YYY], which is tied by rubber bands and placed inside a white envelope. I didn’t pay attention to the splinters of wood where this white envelope was supposed to be. That time, I was just so intent on finishing the computation of my students’ grades so I could go home early as my relatives were waiting for me for my birthday celebration. I was so intent on this task of grade computation that I wanted to put this issue of the missing money at the back of my mind for a while. I rationalized that I must have left the money with the department secretary, [Ms. Romero], after all.

Unfortunately, when I checked with [Ms. Romero] the next day, she said that I never gave the money to her. I told [Mr. San Pedro], [Mr. Abada], and [Ms. Pineda] about the money which I couldn’t find. They helped me look for the money in my drawers but we weren’t able to find it. We checked my drawers at least twice, and I asked [Ms. Romero] at least twice whether the money was with her. All these efforts yielded negative results. The rationalization we had was that I must have misplaced the money.

As of this time, the only people who knew that I couldn’t find the money was me, [Mr. San Pedro], [Mr. Abada], [Ms. Pineda], [Ms. Romero], [Mr. Ferrer] (an Instructor of the [Z] [W] Department), and [Ms. Evangelista], the chair of the [Z] [W] Department.

Around 4:30 – 5:00 p.m. of the 22^nd, as I was sitting on my chair thinking of the various possibilities where the money could be, I noticed that a part of the drawer where I kept the money, was chipped off. I opened this drawer and looked at the drawer lock. After comparing this drawer lock with that of the other drawer which I never locked, I noticed that this drawer lock was damaged – it wasn’t lying flat and fastened anymore on the drawer. Then, I inserted the key to this drawer lock, and I discovered that the lock wouldn’t function anymore. I also noticed again the splinters of wood on where the envelope containing the money was supposed to be. I immediately notified [Mr. Abada], [Ms. Pineda], and [Mr. San Pedro] of this development, and we concluded that a theft indeed occurred, that it wasn’t a random one and was in fact premeditated. There were no damages to the drawers of the other faculty members and there was no evidence that the door to our department, the Big Faculty Room, SEC A 309, was forcibly opened.

That afternoon, we notified the Vice Chair of the [W] Department, [Ms. Tan], about our conclusion, as [Ms. Evangelista] had already left. ([Ms. Evangelista] subsequently notified [Ms. Evangelista] of our conclusions.) [Ms. Santisteban], Instructor in our department, and who kept office also in our room, was still with us that time, so she is also aware of the theft. [Ms. Romero] was also informed about the theft via the telephone.

We don’t have any suspects for the theft until now.

[ubermensch]
Assistant Instructor
[W] Department
[Z] University
[my home address line 1]
[my home address line 2]
Cell phone: (0917) 4343458
Telephone Number: [my home phone]