‘Rugby Boys’ in Cebu City: Councilor eyes ordinance against them, negligent parents

City legislator's call came after viral video on these 'problem kids'

‘Rugby boys’ are caught on video sniffing a plastic bag believed to contain rugby and acting rowdy in a passenger jeepney heading to downtown Cebu City. | screen grab from contributed video via Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Cebu City councilor wanted to propose an ordinance seeking to punish ‘rugby boys’ and their negligent parents.

This was after a video caught a group of minors sniffing what looked like rugby from a plastic bag while riding in a public transportation (a passenger utility jeepney) from uptown to downtown Cebu City.

The Cebu City government has initiated an investigation into the incident, which reportedly happened last Tuesday, April 9.

The Cebu City police and the city’s Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) together had begun tracing the identities of the teenagers as well as that of their parents, said Councilor Philip Zafra.

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“Atong gitahasan atong DSWS nga i-trace ning mga bataa. Sutaon nato sila kay gusto nato masuta sad even ang mga ginikanan ani,” Zafra said.

(We are instructing our DSWS to trace these kids. Identify them because we also want to identify them even their parents.)

The city government also wanted to learn from the parents why their children were left without adult supervision in the streets, and why and how they ended up sniffing the addictive solvent.

A certain Facebook user, Jussil Princess Daño, shared online a video of a group of five boys riding a public jeep from Brgy. Lahug, Cebu City.

In her post, Daño said the passengers immediately took notice of the rowdy bunch. Much to their surprise, they saw the minors sniffing whatever was inside the cellophane bags they were carrying.

This prompted the driver and some of the passengers, including Daño, to reprimand the minors and instructed them to disembark.

Police Major Mark Don Alfred Leanza, chief of the Abellana Police Station (Police Station 2), said they already rescued two of the five children, and were successfully turned over to their concerned barangays.

In a separate interview, Leanza also said they were coordinating with barangay officials to get in touch with the parents, and to remind them to take care of their children responsibly.

“Kaning rescue operations nato, ginabuhat ni nato daily and nightly,” he added.

(Our rescue operations, we do this daily and nightly.)

The video elicited various reactions online, some of which urged the city government to address the proliferation of ‘rugby boys’, which has been one of the perennial problems in the city.

Most of the minors rescued in previous operations, according to Zafra, do not even reside in Cebu City.

Meanwhile, Zafra said they are open to the creation of an ordinance to curb this issue, by punishing not only the minors involved but also their adult relatives as well.

The city government also urged parents to be responsible when it comes to raising their own children to prevent more ‘rugby boys’ roaming around the city. | with reports from Paul Lauro