Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan. | CDN File Photo
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu – Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan has ordered the two top officials of the Home Care Center for Children replaced after they were accused of abuses and mismanagement.
Chan said in his press conference earlier today, September 25, that facility head Letecia Patalinjug and assistant head Virginia Dejayco were already reassigned to the City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) office.
Both are regular employees of the Lapu-Lapu City government.
Chan said he learned of their abuses after minors staying at the facility wrote him a letter.
He was also told that at least five female occupants of the facility aged 11 to 14-years-old had threatened to slash their wrist in protest of the continued stay of the two social workers.
Wanting to see for himself the actual situation at the Home Care located in Barangay Gun-ob, Chan said that personally visited the facility on Tuesday afternoon, September 24, and spoke to some of its occupants.
The city government-run Home Care Center provides shelter to minors who were either abandoned by their parents or those who suffered from abuses.
During his visit, Chan learned that one girl tried to slash her wrist with the use of an opened sardines can last week. The girl was stopped by one of the facility’s house parents, who also encouraged her to write him a letter instead to air her grievances.
The facility’s female dormitory now has 29 occupants.
Girls whom he spoke with during his visit also told him that they had been deprived of items that they could use for their personal hygiene.
One girl had told him that a small bar of bath soap is cut into two pieces and distributed to two occupants. They will have to use their share of bath soap for a month.
Another one also reported to Chan that they were made to eat leftover bread from a wake. They were also given expired energy drinks and medicines and were often fed with sardines for the meals.
The children said that they were no longer given counselling while they were not also allowed to play outside of their dormitories.
Chan said that the facility was given an allocation of P1.5 million that was more than enough to support the needs of its occupants for the entire year.
While the City Legal Office investigates accusations of irregularities and abuses, Chan said that he had Patalinjug and Dejayco reassigned to the CSWD.
Chan said that he also had 20 job order employees, whom former mayor Paz Radaza employed as house parents, terminated in August.
The new house parents, he said, were the ones who help the girls bring their concerns to his attention.
CSWD head Ermilita Degamo said she was unaware of the abuses committed by officials of the Home Care facility. She promised to have the matter investigated. / dcb
Photo caption: Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan personally visited the children at the Homecare Center in Lapu-Lapu city due to complaints of mismanagement.