THE agency supposedly tasked to help provide intervention for minor offenders, has given up on Dodong, the 13-year-old boy who was caught several times for burglary.
Chief Insp. Ramoncillo Sawan, Punta Princesa Police Station chief, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would no longer accept Dodong because he would always escape from their facility.
“DSWD shelters won’t work with him (Dodong) anymore kay motakas ug mangguba daw og mga gamit. So we sought help (from Cebu City government),” Sawan said.
(DSWD shelters won’t work with him anymore because he keeps on escaping and destroying things.)
Dodong is the suspect in more than 30 cases of robbery reported in Cebu City.
But because of his minority, he is exempt from criminal liability.
“What we did was we turned him over to the Cebu City government for proper intervention,” Sawan said.
Dodong is now housed at the Operation Second Chance Center (OSCC), a facility for children in conflict with the law, operated and managed by the Cebu City government.
Sawan said they asked permission from the court to place Dodong at the facility, which was granted last Thursday.
On the evening of Sept. 19, a Tuesday, Dodong was caught by the owner of the house that he meant to burglarize in Barangay Quiot-Pardo and was brought to the police station.
After documenting the incident, the police turned over the boy to the city’s social workers.
The following morning, Dodong was released but in the evening of the same day, he again forcibly entered another house, intending to steal. Again, he was caught by the owners.
“Kailangan na g’yud siya i-under sa facility (OSCC) since he was caught so many times. We want him to be in a better place,” Sawan said.
(He should be placed in the facility since he was caught so many times. We want him to be in a better place.)
Sawan admitted that in the previous rescues of Dodong, the police turned him over to the DSWD.