Children show the cigarette burn marks on their wrists, a mark to prove that they are member of a gang of children in Barangay Basak Pardo, Cebu City.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSO
Basak Pardo kid-recruits were burned in wrists and paddled to become gang members
“Help us save our children,”
This was the appeal of a 46-year-old mother to barangay officials after she found out that her youngest son was recruited to an alleged gang.
Rosa, not her real name, said that her 11-year-old son was recruited by their neighbor to join a gang.
“They were five of them who were recruited for a gang. They were paddled and their wrist were burnt by cigarette,” Rosa said in Cebuano.
Rosa is one of the mothers in Sitio Fatima in Barangay Basak Pardo who turned to barangay officials for help after they found out that their children had been recruited to a gang of children headed by a 17-year-old boy.
“No mother in the world would want something bad to happen to their children,” Rosa said.
Another mother, who asked not to be named, said that she was surprised when her nine-year-old son did not want to take a bath anymore.
“He did not want to take a bath because it was painful. When I checked his body, I saw the bruises on his legs,” she said in Cebuano.
She said that she also found out that their children were threatened by the 17-year-old “gang leader” if they would tell somebody about them being recruited to the gang.
The mothers said they would want the 17-year-old to be held liable for what he did to their children.
Fights, curfew
They also said that they feared their children would be involved in fights with rival gangs in other places because of their being a member of the gang.
They asked that the barangay tanods in their community to implement more foot patrols and curfew for children.
The parents said that these would help deter children from going out late at night.
CDN tried to contact Basak Pardo Barangay Captain Yolandito Cagang but he could not be reached for comment.
Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, who was also the former Barangay Captain of Basak Pardo, said that barangays being the front liners should implement the curfew ordinance on children as a deterrent to this kind of activity.
Tumulak, who is the deputy mayor for peace and order, also said that together with the parents barangay officials should work together to address these issues.
DepEd action
The Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) Child Protection committee, for their part, will also meet today to discuss what measures to undertake to students involved in a “gang.”
Bianito Dagatan, superintendent for the Cebu City Division of DepEd-7 said the committee, which is composed of division supervisors led by the Values Education supervisor, would gather facts and come up with solutions they would take on the five students involved in this incident.
“We have to convene our division child protection committee by Monday, and immediately look into the incidence by gathering facts as basis for their recommendation on what interventions and measures we have to take,” he said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.
He said possible interventions would include strengthening the homeroom and school guidance program and close monitoring of students activities even outside schools through PTA, and youth formation activities.
Dagatan said peer influence could be seen as one of factors that prompted the victims to participate to the group./With Correspondent Jessa Mae O. Sotto