Article by: Carmina Mones
Around 11pm today, Cat went home and told us that her phone was snatched from her inside the jeep going home. Fearing for her contacts and all that important company shizz on her phone, we immediately signed in her iCloud account on my Find My iPhone app. Her immediate thought was just to wipe out everything and turn it into a brick phone, an overpriced paperweight. We tried locating the iPhone, though, and I convinced her that we should go and try find it, it’s just along Araneta Ave., where it got stolen anyway. So we went and met up with our father, got on the motorcycle and went straight to Galas QC station (incidentally, this is where I went as well when my iPod was stolen in July of last year) and asked for the policemen’s help. We got on the mobil and tracked down the location of her phone.
We arrived at a depressed area in Don Pepe, Araneta. The phone kept changing locations, but just in the same area as we were. We knocked on some doors where the phone’s location was pinpointing us to and the neighborhood went on full-on alert mode on what was happening. So hanap hanap kami for almost an hour in the area, the problem was that both our phones’ batteries were low and her phone was on silent mode. Mine was on less than 20% while Cat’s was below 10%. We were both losing patience and hope in finding it; it’s like a “so near, yet so far,” a race against time situation.
Our deal was that when her phone reaches 5%, we’ll give up on looking for it already. People were crowding us as they hovered over my phone changing locations, amazed at how accurate the app is. It started to feel like a wild goose chase. Pissed, I started telling the people around us, at no one in particular, “Hindi niyo rin mapapakinabangan yan. Kapag binlock namin yan, walang mangyayari dyan. Kahit dalhin niyo sa Greenhills yan o kahit sa Apple pa mismo, hindi nila mao-open yan. Magkakaron lang kayo ng paperweight. Ibi-brick namin yan. Hindi niyo mabebenta. Ibalik niyo na.” [Rough translation: “You won’t get anything out of it. When we block it, nothing will happen to it. Even if you bring it to Greenhills or Apple, they won’t be able to open it. You’ll just get a paperweight. You won’t be able to sell it. Just return it.”]
Some people got offended, but I mean, come on, we were in the same area for more than thirty minutes and my phone was dying, as well. We started looking in nooks and crannies, even on parked tricycles. Cat then shouted, “Magbibigay ako ng 500, ibalik niyo na lang. Please.” [Rough translation: “I will give 500 pesos. Just return it. Please.”]
Less than five minutes later, somebody heard the phone ringing thru “Play Sound” on the Find My iPhone’s app and she found it! She immediately hugged me when she got it. Someone left it sa isang tabi. So yun. Guys, that is why you get an iPhone. You get what you pay for. Just don’t forget to sign in your iCloud and download the Find My iPhone app, so that if anything like this happens to you, either you get your phone back or nobody else can use it again. “Kung hindi kita mapapakinabangan, walang ibang makikinabang sayo.”
Also, it was a good thing the guy who stole the phone was an iPhone noob who didn’t know how to turn off the phone. Much thanks to Galas QC police officers who helped us tonight! Papa wanted to give them something as a sign of thanks, but I firmly told him, “No, it’s their job. That’s why it breeds corruption among some of them.” Good to know there are still policemen who “serve and protect.” Okay ang haba na. Good night!
Article by: Carmina Mones
