IF YOU are wondering why the Jose R. de Venecia Expressway Extension has been plunged into darkness at night over the past weeks making travel through it dangerous, it’s because a gang of still unidentified cable thefts had stolen the underground electric wires for the highway lights.

Aside from the four-kilometer JdV Expressway, the Pantal Bridge connecting the north and south ends of the highway has also been rendered unlit but reflectors have since been installed at the bridge railings to minimize hazard.

Dagupan Mayor Benjamin Lim finally called to a meeting last week all junkshop owners in the city to ask their help in identifying the thieves, suspected to be members of the so-called Spaghetti Gang, who may have sold to them the wires made of copper.

Corollary to this, two suspected wire thefts were arrested Wednesday night along JdV Expressway. They were identified as Roy Mararac and John Calimlim of Barangay Pantal.

Both denied they were stealing cable wires Superintendent Romeo Caramat said the junkshop where the two were selling the stolen wire cables were padlocked by Mayor Lim.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Pete Merrera of neighboring Binmaley town also reported that cable thieves also recently pilfered telephone wires, leaving the municipality without telephone services for a week.

The theft of cables wires in several parts of Pangasinan has been a longstanding problem despite the previous arrest of some Spaghetti Gang members.

The two telephone companies operating in Pangasinan, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc., reported a combined estimated loss of more than P13 million in 2010 due to stolen cables.

WARNING

Lim warned the junkshop operators that they are liable for criminal charges if found to have purchased the stolen items and failed to report it to the authorities.

Supt. Caramat, reported last May that the rampant cable pilferage in the city has already been addressed. At that time, junkshop owners also signed an agreement with the police not to buy stolen copper wires.

Copper fetches as much as P300 per kilogram in the market.

OTHER AREAS

Wires for the roadside lights along the highway between Bonuan Gueset and Bonuan Binloc have also been stolen.

Dagupan residents initially suspected that the lights along these highways were deliberately switched off by the city government to save on electricity cost.

City Engineer Virginia Rosario said the cable wires along JDV highway are set to be replaced this month as the bidding for the purchase of the items has already been completed.

Those for Bonuan Gueset to Bonuan Binloc are still due for bidding.

Rosario said this time they are installing less expensive electric cable wires made of aluminum.

2 SUSPECTS

Late last week, the Dagupan police nabbed two suspected members of the Spaghetti Gang.

The suspects were identified as Roy Ugaban Mararac and John Ventura Calimlim.

In a statement, Lim promised to give incentives to junk shop owners who will cooperate and help catch more of the suspects.

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