NINE minors who allegedly belonged to a “fam” or gang were rescued by barangay tanods in Barangay Apas, Cebu City during the Holy Week.
Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman said that one of the minors admitted they were smoking marijuana inside three makeshift huts near a funeral parlor in the area. This worried parents who sought assistance from barangay tanods, who then rescued the minors in two operations, conducted in the evening of Good Friday and Black Saturday.
“We had the kubol-kubol (huts) demolished. One of them also admitted to our tanods that if you’re a female member of the fam, you’ll be used for sex,” Ayuman said.
Four were rescued last Friday and five on Saturday and were safely brought to their parents. The youngest was a 9-year-old boy while the oldest was a 15-year-old girl.
Some of the teenagers hail from Sitios Tarcom and Tophill in Barangay Lahug, Ayuman said. A paddle marked Tyson, which was the name of the group, was also seized.
“They stay in the area to hang out past the curfew hours. When our tanods went there, the thick smell of marijuana was in the air,” Ayuman said.
The barangay captain is set to meet with the Apas oversight committee composed of leaders of a fraternity group, religious organizations, guidance counselors, and the police to help teach the minors what brotherhood or sisterhood should mean.
Positive influence
“They claimed that their leader was from one of the known frat groups. However, we still have to verify that because we already signed an agreement and the frat groups joined our campaign when they became part of our oversight committee,” he said.
Ayuman said that he will also report the incident to the Lahug barangay captain and the person in charge of their gender and development programs.
“When the fam became infamous here, we strengthened our efforts like our implementation of curfew,” Ayuman said.
Ayuman said that the barangay aims to conduct diversion programs for minors who want to join these “fams.”
“We don’t know the individual problems of these minors in their relationships with their families, or whether these broken or not, but it will be worrisome if we don’t give attention to this. That’s why diversion programs are very important,” he said.
Last February, barangay officials in Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City, also rescued minors who were believed to have contracted sexually transmitted infections from members of a fam. Tests were conducted on the minors, after authorities learned they were told to have sex with some of the group’s members as part of their initiation, or they would get hit with a paddle.