DANCING to the tune of “All About That Bass,” five street children in police costumes welcomed students of the Cebu City Don Carlos A. Gothong Memorial High School yesterday morning.
They all want to be professionals when they grow up, but they’re not sure if they can even finish elementary.
Like his four other friends, 11-year-old Bokay Torreon said he hopes their dance will catch the attention of someone who wants to help them achieve their goals.
Torreon, who has six younger siblings, wants to be a policeman.
“I want to help my family that’s why I want to be a cop,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in Cebuano.
The first thing he’ll do if he becomes a policeman is to imprison husbands who hurt their wives, he said.
Alina Dagoplu, 11, and Jele Panuela, 10, said they share Torreon’s dream.
“I want to be a cop because I don’t want to grow up a thief because that’s bad, according to God,” Dagoplu said in Cebuano.
Rounding up the group were nine-year-old Rever Benolirao, who has yet to enroll for grade 1, and John Cris Abesia, 11.
Although he’s not sure what he wants to become growing up, he said being a policeman is one of his choices.
The children are neighbors in Barangay Sawang Calero. They spend most of their free time in front of the San Nicolas Police Station.
Police assistance
Torreon, Dagoplu and Abesia said they are incoming grade 4 students at the Sawang Calero Elementary School, but they have not enrolled yet.
“My mother might enroll me today,” Torreon said, although classes started yesterday.
Panuela is supposed to be in grade 3, but she, too, has not enrolled.
Senior Insp. Chuck Barandog, chief of the San Nicolas Police Station, said street children have a right to be involved in community activities.
“They are here so they’ll realize that the police are not their enemies and to minimize bullying between out-of-school youths and students on the road,” he said in Cebuano.
Barandog said he hoped yesterday’s activity will attract the attention of nongovernment organizations that can help the children with their schooling.
“We’ll try to work out that these kids get the help they need and they get proper training because they are good kids,” Barandog said in Cebuano.
The children helped nine policemen distribute free school supplies and flyers on security tips to students outside the school.
Members of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) distributed similar flyers to students in schools around the city.
CCPO Acting Director Marciano Batiancela Jr. said they received no report of an untoward incident against students yesterday.