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Friday, January 24, 2003
Team to check weekly on kids linked to cult
By Gingging A. Campaña/Lorenzo P. Niñal
ALTHOUGH the court’s decision to return the children to their parents has foiled a scheduled medical checkup and treatment for the kids, this will not stop the Cebu City Government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) from looking after the children’s welfare.
City Hall and DSWD formed yesterday a committee of social workers who will visit the Salva Me children in Sitio Nazareth, Buhisan every week to monitor their activities and to make sure that the parents have complied with the judge’s orders.
“We don’t intend to remove the children from their parents’ custody forever because the Family Code says it is the last recourse. What we wanted to impress upon them is for the protection and welfare of the children, because we believe the children need immediate medical attention,” said Councilor Gerardo Carillo.
Carillo, tasked by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to look into the issue, said the inter-agency task force led by the Commission on Human Rights 7 is finalizing its report after a fact-finding inquiry on the alleged sexual abuse and forced labor of the religious group.
“We will meet to see if we have enough basis to file a complaint against Salva Me as alleged by the petition of the Buhisan residents and the affidavits of the former members,” Carillo told Sun.Star.
Mayor Osmeña, for his part, said Regional Trial Court Judge Pampio Abarintos’s order was enough warning and reminder for the parents of their responsibilities to their children.
Meanwhile, foreign supporters of Salva Me will visit Cebu to give moral support to the beleaguered cult nestled in the mountains of Sitio Nazareth.
Manuel Orlanes, right- hand man of Salva Me founder Alfredo “Daddy Divine” Verano, said that since the controversy broke out, their followers “in New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, California and other parts of the world” have been calling them for updates.
Orlanes carries a mobile phone and acts as the group’s contact person to Salva Me supporters in other parts of the country and abroad.
The supporters will arrive in Cebu between now and next month, Orlanes said. Whether the visitors will stay with them in the caves the group dug or in hotels, Orlanes didn’t say.
Without citing figures, Orlanes admitted that the group receives a monthly financial assistance from these supporters.
The money goes to their daily needs, like milk for the babies, canned goods, rice, medicine and other expenses.
With the controversy, they will have to add legal expenses to the list, Orlanes said.
After allegations were raised that cult’s children were made to do hard labor and not sent to school, 14 of them were taken by City Hall officials and social workers last Monday.
The children, accompanied by their parents, were taken to the Social Development Center in Labangon where they were fed, interviewed and examined by a team of social workers and medical personnel from the City Health Department.
However, Judge Abarintos ordered that the 14 children be returned to their parents, who promised to send them to school and to take better care of them.
He also ordered the social workers to monitor the activities of the cult, especially those that concern the children, and to report to him if the parents renege on their promises.
The DSWD and the Cebu City Commission for Welfare and Protection of Children have filed in court a petition for protective custody of the children.
(January 24, 2003 issue)
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