By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD CITY – The suspects involved in stealing an 88-year-old Fernando Amorsolo painting in Silay City, Negros Occidental, earlier this month, are from Iloilo City.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Mark Anthony Darroca, city police chief, said this development followed the arrest of two persons by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on July 11.
The suspects were attempting to sell the painting for P3.5 million in Manila.
Darroca reported that the NBI immediately launched an entrapment operation after receiving information from an informant about the planned sale.
The two arrested suspects—a man and a woman—have been charged with anti-fencing.
Based on gathered information, Darroca explained that the painting was handed over to the arrested suspects by two other individuals who posed as tourists and directly stole the artwork from the Hofileña Museum in Silay City on July 3.
After committing the theft, the two robbers traveled back to Iloilo and then boarded a plane to Manila to hand over the painting to the arrested suspects for disposal.
The suspects were reportedly hired by a man known for theft and other petty crimes in Iloilo. “We already have a lead but we are still finalizing the investigation report,” Darroca added.
Darroca assured that there is no organized group involved in the crime. The police will reveal the identities of the suspects once the cases have been filed.
The police are waiting for the Hofileña family to sign the documents for filing a criminal complaint against one of the robbers, identified by a pedicab driver who transported them to the city public plaza, where they boarded a passenger jeepney.
The painting, “Mango Harvesters” (1936), has an estimated value of P10 million. It was part of the late Ramon Hofileña’s art collection, a well-known art curator in the province.
The painting was recovered by the NBI on July 11, a week after it was stolen from the museum, which is also an ancestral house of the Hofileña family.
Darroca noted that the P25,000 cash reward offered by Mayor Joedith Gallego has been given to an informant who assisted in the recovery of the painting.
