IT MUST have been one scene for the movies. Some 30 children suddenly bursting at past 6 p.m. of Oct. 4, charging into the portals of the Operation Second Chance facility in Barangay Kalunasan while house parents ran after them. Twenty managed to bolt out the door, but social workers caught up with nine of them.
As of last count on Monday night, Oct. 7, only five remain at large after three of those who escaped turned themselves in. Again, just like in the movies, we get a flashback from the returning trio who narrated their version of the story.
They claim that a good number of residents plotted an escape following alleged abuses by house parents and police officers.
Marlon (not real name), 17, told Superbalita Cebu that they were physically abused each time one of them commited a mistake.
“They used to treat us like their children. Now, we are more like prisoners to them,” Marlon said in Cebuano. He said even the police officers allegedly beat them up, taking turns whacking arnis sticks on them. The officers, they said, oftentimes use wet blankets tied into a knot and beat their legs.
“Even if one person commits the mistake, all of us suffer his or her punishment,” Jerome, another returnee, said.
These are serious allegations from the young residents of the facility, and it is only right that authorities get to the bottom of this. The facility, built to separate minor offenders from adult criminals, reportedly has 79 residents who are under the supervision of nine house parents.