Close Call for a Break-In

Yesterday we went home to Pampanga. Today, being a holiday (Ninoy Day moved), we figured we'd go overnight for a brief RnR. Many reasons convinced us to do so.

For one, our work at the Unit B apartment is done. I've endorsed the keys to Weng last Saturday. In exchange, I got the signed contracts with the checks and cash.

Second, the Munsci girls just finished their 1st periodical exams and so nothing hectic on their sked. Third, the floods in Pampanga have subsided.

We left the house around 9am and dropped Tita Gay in Makati. We reached Pampanga at 12noon in time for lunch. All's well when at 9:30pm when the lights were out, Che got a call.

In the next morning, DH said that Tita Gay called Che to say that our front gate was opened. The padlock was still there but the gate was pushed forcibly inwards disengaging the bolt.

Without eating we all rushed for the long drive back. I was practically worried all the time. When we got home, we were relieved that nothing was taken.

Our front neighbor, Mang Abe (through Chris) was kind enough to notify the guards after noticing that the gate was open at around 6pm yesterday. There were a few folks milling at our front since the security people were there. What they did was to secure the gate again. Here are a few observations:




  1. Our dog, Snoopy aka Snooky (bless her doggie heart) was still inside despite the gate being open.
  2. The gate CAN be opened by pushing inwards even when padlocked.
  3. There was no attempt to forcibly open the doors. There were no signs of damage to the door or the locks.

We're so lucky for Mang Abe who was kind enough to instruct the roving guards to patrol our front street. His store also stayed opened a little later.

All these to ensure that whoever attempted to get in didn't return that night as the house was still empty. DH had the foresight to take the new bike inside the house. Me, I kinda regretted not bringing my laptop instead so I could've done my speech. Still, thank God, everything's all good.

In the afternoon, I bought a 2 foot 5/16" chain at Handyman. This is thicker than the 1/4" that I thought was good enough. The chain will be wrapped around the side posts so that they're always joined.

The good thing here is there's no need for an additional padlock. The chain will be secured by the same old padlock. It being too long, I discarded 7 of the 19 links thus leaving a chain which is 12 links long. Here's how the padlocked gate now looks like.


Both end links of the chain are inserted in the shackle of the existing padlock as it is locked. The kids already have their spare key to the old padlock so it made no sense to put the chain somewhere else and add a new padlock. It's a bit of a hassle, but we feel safer now.



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