FIVE parents in Mandaue City might be charged with child abandonment in relation to child abuse after their underaged children were rescued from the streets for violating the City’s curfew ordinance 10 times.

According to Jessie Perez, head of the Cit Social Welfare Services Office, if the parents are found to be negligent, then their office will file the case against them.

Since January, not less than 404 minors have been rescued for violating the curfew ordinance.

And since the City strictly enforced Oplan Sita last month, 65 minors have been rescued.

Perez said that after taking the rescued children’s profile and talking to their parents, the parents are made to sign a promise not to let their children roam the streets past curfew time to prevent them from falling victims to crime or from being used by criminal elements.

He also said that they plan to recommend to the Department of Social Welfare and Services Office to drop parents who neglect their children from the list of 4P beneficiaries and to penalize them. Perez said that they have conducted background checks on the parents and it turned out that some of them are single parents or one spouse is in jail or both parents are at work.

He said that is why they’ve come up with a livelihood program for them. However, he said that these should not be excuses that parents neglect their children. (JPP of SuperBalita)