Norwegians felt slighted by the way cops treated their plight
Amid insinuations that the Naburot island robbery which victimized two foreign tourists was a case of "hold-up me" or a self-made robbery, the lawyer for Norwegian national Jan Erik Olsen and Filipino migrant to Norway Steve French has written Chief Supt. Wilfredo Dulay Sr., Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 director, stating that his clients felt slighted with the early pronouncements made by authorities in the media downplaying the incident.
Lawyer Cornelio Panes also submitted written affidavits of the two victims to help the police in their investigation even as he asked Dulay to resolve the case as soon as possible.
"It is unfortunate that this had happened to these two foreign tourists in the last leg of their visit around the Philippines after their arrival in the country last January 19, 2007. The two also felt slighted and embarrassed that police authorities investigating the incident made it appear in the media that the incident was only their scheme, insinuating insurance fraud on the part of our clients," writes Panes.
"We will not dignify such malicious insinuation against our clients with an explanation. Rather we are submitting their affidavits to help police officers resolve the incident, maybe not now but in the future, primarily to abate similar incidents that may happen in resorts all over the region victimizing foreign tourists."
To note, the Guimaras police has yet to establish leads as to the identities of the suspects who stole the victims' cash and valuables worth P1,076,000.
Affidavits
In sworn statements, Olsen and French narrated the events surrounding the February 4 and 5 stay in private island-resort Isla Naburot in Barangay Sinapsapan, Naburot Island, Guimaras.
And it was no scheme towards insurance fraud, the two pals averred while raising questions on the resort owner's actions after the crime was reported.
"The combined value of our personal property and monies which were stolen stand at P1,076,000 more or less," excerpts of the affidavits went with French adding "On hindsight, I wondered by Ann Saldaña placed our group on cottages which are far apart from each other rather than on two adjacent cottages. Looking back too, it concerns me why Ann Saldaña as a resort owner did not even bother to make an ocular inspection of our cottage after I reported the incident of our missing bags and valuables and why she allowed our cottage to be cleaned up by the maid before the police came."
Olsen and French went to Isla Naburot with French's sister, a cousin and another woman friend. It was to be a second visit for both with Olsen saying "Isla Naburot is an amazing resort so we planned for another visit." French for his part openly told the owner of the good feedbacks reason why they opted to make Isla Naburot and Guimaras a part of their continuing vacation and travel throughout the Philippines.
With questions raised on the valuables and big amount of money the two victims had in their possession, French lengthily explained, "Ann Saldaña blamed us for bringing so much cash and valuables to the island. We answered that we brought cash to the island because we knew from last year that the payment is on cash basis. To stay in the resort costs P4,500 per person per night and transfer and drinks cost extra. We intended to stay some days and also do some island-hopping so our cash was not much more than enough. We bring our personal belongings with us whether we travel or stay in our hometown and some of our brander items are pricey."
Pricey
Among the pricey loot was a Tag Heuer watch worth about P340,000, a Rolex wristwatch worth P240,000, a blue Mulberry messenger bag worth P48,000, Louis Vuitton wallets, sunglasses and passport holders of over P140,000 worth, digital camera with waterproof case worth about P70,000, Diamond-studded bracelet in white gold valued at P70,000, Bvlgari silver key ring worth P10,000, Hermes card holder worth P40,000 and total cash of P85,000 for French while US dollar of 1,200 for Olsen and his Singapore 400 dollars.