By Joel E. Zurbano

POLICE are looking for the burglars who ransacked the offices of Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and Undersecretary Bashir Rasuman in Port Area, Manila, over the weekend.

A janitor found Ebdane?s second-floor office disorderly when she got there around 8:30 a.m. yesterday. Staff learned that Rasuman?s office, on the third floor, had also been searched.

?The sliding window at the back of my office was opened, but my things are intact except for some expired health pills for older people,? Ebdane said.

?No important documents are missing because I never leave them in my office.?

But several drawers had been forced open and some documents taken out from Rasuman?s office. The burglars took a .45-cal. pistol, a digital camera, a laptop computer and a wrist watch.

Asked what documents were taken from Rasuman?s office, Ebdane said: ?We will know when the undersecretary returns from Mindanao.?

Rasuman, on official business in Marawi City, is in charge of administrative services. He has also been assigned to oversee all foreign-funded projects initiated by Arab countries.

Ebdane, a former police chief, said the break-in was a reminder to all government executives not to leave unsecured documents in their offices.

While police are investigating the burglary, Ebdane has ordered a review of security measures inside the central office to determine if there were lapses by the security guards on duty on Saturday and Sunday.

Senior Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan said the incident was not the first in the agency.

?As far as I can recall, there were several breaks-in in the past... even my office was ransacked and the thieves took the payroll for the staff. After that happened, we doubled our security,? he said.

Last year, unidentified men broke into the agency?s public information division, the union?s office, and the Bureau of Design. Digital cameras, medicine and a digital disc player were among the items stolen.