Just wanted to share the incident experienced by fellow Happy Feet runners Let and Erick during Botak Paa-Bilisan last Sunday. Their new SLR camera and cellphone were stolen probably while the race is ongoing. Here is part of Let’s email to the Happy Feet group:
“but something bad happened that race day sa amin, naka park kami
malapit sa rox, ninakaw ang camera namin at celphone ko which i think
happened habang tumatakbo kami, sinungkit yung sasakyan namin at
kinuha ang mga yun.
ni-report namin sa police (and were not hoping na marerecover pa ang
mga yun, i just don’t believe sa sistema ng mga “kinauukulan”, no
offense po sa may mga kamaganak na autoridad). sabi lang nya wala daw
coordination yung mga organizers sa kanila (pinasa pa sa iba ang sisi,
hay..), at hindi lang daw kami ang nanakawan (defensive), meron pa raw
iba. (pero hindi ba dapat mag bantay pa din sila kasi yun ang
obligasyon nila), i felt so sad nung time na yun, almost 6mos. pa lang
sa amin yung slr na camera na yun. pero sabi ni erick pasalamat pa din
kami sa Diyos kasi hindi kinuha yung sasakyan.”
I heard that this is not the first time this incident happen. May this serve as a warning to other runners to take the necessary precaution.
mind of a traveller 
very frequent nga lately yung ganito na modus. It is safe not to leave anything sa loob ng kotse lalo na kung wlang car tint.
actually ngaun ko lang nalaman na may nangyayaring nakawanan sa mga races. better ata to leave your valuables sa trunk or somewhere na hindi kita.
Sad to know that Global City is a haven of crooks nowadays. And I believe that was just a stone’s throw away from the police post, huh. Mag-ingat na lang po tayo. These acts are rampant these days because of the coming holiday season. Ingat everyone.
Wilbert, I mentioned this on the Happy Feet e-mail already but this is sad! I know I’m concerned about bringing any type of valuables at my upcoming races, especially my small camera that I’d like to take photo-ops afterwards. On Sunday here in SF, a local road race was very lax of people leaving their car and house keys in a shoe box and no one really watching. It’s a robbery waiting to happen.
Anyway, good race this past weekend. Hope the training is continuing to go well as is the volleyball team.
Lesson learned Wayne. We only hope this would not happen again.
As for the volleyball team, we won tonight. One more game for the championship.
Wilbert, I read about an incident like this a few months ago. Just curious, where exacly was Let parked, was it in the guarded parking area or in the open lot? Kung guarded parking wala bang share sa responsibiility yung security?
DATC, not sure where exactly. She only mentioned they parked near ROX. I agree that the security is also responsible f indeed they parked in the guarded area.
I was shocked when I read your posting on the robbery — in a parked and locked car at that!!! Makes me pray in gratitude that it didn’t happen to me as I had my SLR locked in my car while I was running. I think I’ll be more careful in the future races. I’m sad for your friends and I know the frustrations dealing with law enforcement that make more excuses rather than bending over backwards to help. So sad. I guess we all have to be more careful — regardless of wherever we parked.
Yes it is sad things like this happen. We have to be more careful and be mindful of our valuables.
Thank you for sharing this, Wilbert. Matagal-tagal na din akong hindi nabibiktima ng mga kawatan, and I don’t want something like this happen to me again. How about leaving our things at the luggage area? Is it safer there than leaving our things at the car?
i would assume it is safer in the luggage area. i don’t have a car and kung may time na hindi ako pwedeng makilagay ng gamit sa luggage area ko iniiwan. so far wala pa namang nawawala sa akin pero mabuti na rin na mag-ingat.
hi will, ngayon ko lang po nabasa ang post mo about what happened to us kaya super late po ang comment ko. as per DATC question, “YES” dun kami sa guarded parking area, kaya nga nung nalaman namin na nanakawan kami ay guard kaagad ang hinanap namin, kaso wala eh, at yes run unltd. malapit lang po sa police station yung parking area na iyon.
we haven’t run for more than a month now, pero we learned our lessons, and charge to experience na lang. I/We no longer holds grudge to anyone, we have forgiven the thief/ves and also the policemen.
anyways, napagod na kami ni erick sa pahinga, JOIN kami sa NB Power Race kita kits tayo, sa Holiday Inn kami stay. (erick – 25K, me – 10K)
thanks again will and to everybody. God bless!
hi let. good to hear na you are back! see you at Clark. 🙂