AT least 12 minors were rescued while three persons were arrested for reportedly conducting an initiation rite inside an abandoned house in Sitio Bag-ong Silangan, Barangay Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City on Sunday night, the police said.
SPO1 Rheymund Sosmeña said they received a tip that a group of youngsters reportedly belonging to the Young Blood Gangsters were conducting a hazing activity for new recruits in the area past 11 p.m.
“Naaktohan gyod sila sa ilang gibuhat (We caught them red handed),” he said in a phone interview.
The rescued minors, aged 13 to 15 years old, were then brought to the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWD) for rehabilitation.
Four of them were girls while eight were boys.
The police also arrested gang members Jomarie Sulit, 21; Charlie Degamo, 19; and Jevan Enecita, 21, all residents of Barangay Mactan.
Sosmeña added that they have confiscated a wooden paddle and an ice pick believed to be used in the hazing rites.
Sosmeña said they will be filing charges against the three for violation of Republic Act (RA) 11053 or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018.
He also urged parents to continuously monitor their children so that they will not be charged for negligence.
Meanwhile, Marilyn Andales, superintendent of the Department of Education (DepEd) Lapu-Lapu City Division also urged parents to monitor their children’s activities.
“Ilaha gyod bantayan ilang mga bata. Hiposon gyod inig ka gabie. Sige man mi og istorya ana kay dili man gyod ta ka control unsay buhaton nila outside sa school, outside of their homes,” she said.
The minors who were rescued were reportedly high school students of Mactan National High School. She said they still have to determine and what rules the students violated and the corresponding penalties.
Andales said that they will investigate whether the students were being recruited inside the school premises as teachers were also instructed to discuss anti-hazing law to students after every flag raising ceremony.