Presence of mind

My sharing of my experience as a victim of snatching last month elicited amusing ways to deal with the petty crime which is alarming in the boldness of the criminals. They choose no time and it seems they are everywhere.

My earrings were snatched by a woman, in her thirties, who held my ears hard simultaneously from behind, while I was flagging down a bus on Taft Avenue last Aug. 19, at about 3 p.m.

I was so shocked by the incident. I had been a victim more than once of a pickpocket and it was always emotionally unpleasant, aside from the financial loss. But the experience of being touched by a criminal was more traumatic.

I was thankful though that I was not hurt. Anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See said a staff member of the Kaisa, an organization of Filipino-Chinese, was also a victim of earrings snatching, also along Taft Avenue, in front of the Philippine General Hospital where Kaisa members do weekly assistance to charity patients.

In the case of the Kaisa staff, her ears were wounded and she had to be treated at the PGH emergency section.

Mark Reyes, the son of Nikkei Shimbun reporter Tress Reyes, was targeted by a holdupper, also on Taft Avenue, in front of De La Salle University but he was able to touch the heart of the thief, who agreed to a compromise.

Mark, who was the representative of the College of Social Sciences in UP Manila, had a meeting with other student leaders in DLSU. He was waiting for a jeepney to get back to UP, Manila when he felt something sharp on his side. The guy asked for his wallet.

Thinking that he was mistaken to be a rich Lasallian, Mark talked to the guy, “Kuya, hindi ako taga-La Salle. Taga-UP lang ako. (He showed him his student ID)My meeting lang kami dito.”

To underscore his economic status, Mark said, “Sumakay na nga sila sa kanilang mga kotse. Kaya nga ako nag-aabang ng jeepney.”

Mark saw that the holdupper was eyeing his Cole Haan watch, which he borrowed from his brother. He made an offer, “Kuya, heto lang pera ko. Hati na lang tayo dito. Huwag mo lang kunin ang relo ko kasi sa kuya ko ito.”

The holdupper took the money and gave him back P20 for his fare with a friendly advice: “Mag-ingat ka.”

A thief with a considerate heart.

Charmaine Deogracias of NHK TV was victimized by a pickpocket at Southmall in December 2007, just a few days after the Manila Peninsula siege which she covered from inside the hotel.

When she discovered that one of her two cellphones was missing, she texted the stolen phone with a message to the pickpocket: “Inform lang kita na naka-monitor ng military ang cellphone na yan. Tingnan mo ang photo gallery para malaman mo ang aking sinasabi.”

Her cellphone’s photo gallery had images Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Brig. Gen (ret) Danilo Lim, now deputy customs commissioner for intelligence, and the other Magdalo officers during the siege.

After a little while, Charmaine got a call from the holdupper telling her to get her cellphone from the guard at the basement of Southmall. She got it back.

It takes admirable composure and self-command to talk it out with a thief or think of a way to scare one to return his loot. That’s presence of mind.