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Friday, June 16, 2006
Boy, 11, stuffed in sack, dumped
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- For allegedly stealing P70, a 11-year-old boy was beaten up, given electric shocks, placed inside a sack and then tossed alive into a river in Asturias town past noon Tuesday.
Al "Busyok" Quirante Miano is still missing, and his family fears the currents of the Ginabasan River have taken him to the sea.
He allegedly stole money belonging to a 17-year-old boy that he worked with in a woodcraft shop in Barangay New Bago, Asturias.
Police are now looking for Romeo (not his real name), who left the woodcraft shop hours after he allegedly threw Miano into the river.
Three witnesses, aged 11, 12 and 13, told police investigators that Romeo was angry because this was the third time Miano stole his money.
Miano was not the only minor reported missing this week.
In Barangay Tejero, Cebu City, five-year-old Adonis Abalde drowned after leaping with a friend into the flood-swollen waters of the Tejero creek past noon Thursday. He couldn't swim.
Neither his parents nor his elder sister gave him permission to go swimming and had no idea what happened, until Abalde's body was found two hours later in Pier 3.
Christine, the elder sister, said one of the vendors had warned the boys against jumping into the creek, which flowed freely after a heavy downpour washed away the garbage that had clogged it up.
Abalde never surfaced.
Torture
In the Asturias case, a search party found no sign of Miano, whom Romeo has accused of stealing P100 and P50 from him on previous occasions.
This time, Romeo allegedly beat Al up until his face swelled and then dragged him and tied him up with an electric cord.
He then forced Al to sing theme songs from popular local television shows, like "Panday" and "Darna."
"Kung di ka mukanta, kurente (If you don't sing, I'll electrocute you)," they quoted him as saying.
When Al complained of hunger, Romeo allegedly fed him rice mixed with chicken dung. Not contented, Romeo also reportedly spread mud on Al's face.
"He pretended to sleep and warned Busyok. He said that if Busyok did not kill him when he woke up, he would kill Busyok first. But he did not sleep, he just lay down and watched Busyok," one of the boys told a Sun.Star Cebu team.
The boys said they wanted to help Al and even asked Romeo to stop.
"Sietenta ra gani to imong kwarta. Dili ka maluoy? (You only lost P70. Won't you take pity on him?)," they reportedly pleaded, but their appeals fell on deaf ears.
They added that there were no adults in the shop at the time.
When they tried to get in the way, Romeo would allegedly pull out a knife and threaten to kill them, which is why they backed off.
Last words
After that, he ordered Al to get inside the sack then carried this to the riverbank.
The boys told Sun.Star Cebu that they thought Romeo was just scaring Al and they did not think he was going to throw him out into the water.
As a last resort, Al pleaded with Romeo and asked him not to throw him in the river.
"Pakuryentehi na lang ko aron mahipos akong lawas. Ayaw lang ko ilabay sa sapa (You can electrocute me; at least my family can recover my body. Just don't toss me into the river)," were his last words, they said.
But then, Romeo threw him into the water and showed his knife at the three witnesses, telling them not to tell anyone.
It was only by 3 p.m. that they told the adults nearby about what happened, after Romeo hopped on a motorcycle and asked the driver to take him somewhere.
They added that if the driver knew what he did, he would not have given Romeo a ride.
Police finally learned about the incident at 4:45 p.m., after Al's older brother Almedo reported him missing.
A search party was sent to the river, but they could not find him.
The river was swollen after a heavy rain later that afternoon.
As of Thursday, relatives and co-workers at the woodcraft shop were still looking for the 11-year-old.
Al's father Wilhelm told Sun.Star Cebu that even if his son committed a mistake, that was not the way to punish him.
Wilhelm admitted that Al rarely went home and spent most of his time at the shop, making beads out of wood.
He could not even remember the last time Al visited them.
Not alone?
PO2 Jose Hoyohoy, case investigator, said most children who did not want to go to school spent their time at the shop to earn money, adding that the residents there were hard up.
Wilhelm said that Al did seem to have a habit of taking other people's things, but was shocked to hear what his son had to go through.
Wilhelm also does not believe that Romeo was alone, saying his son would have fought back.
He pointed out that Al was heavyset, which is why he was nicknamed Busyok.
Even without the body and a death certificate, Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Vicente Loot ordered the Asturias Police to get the statements of the three witnesses.
He said that if they could identify the victim and the suspect, and police could gather the items used in the torture as evidence, they could file a case against Romeo, so that a warrant can be issued against him.
Police are now looking for Romeo, in hopes he would surrender peacefully. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(June 16, 2006 issue)
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