A 15-YEAR-OLD boy and his two friends gathered limestone to earn extra money.
Girbin Librero Montebon, however, failed to collect his pay, which was P10 per sack, after a boulder fell on the seventh grader, killing him instantly last Saturday morning in Sitio Kanluma in Barangay Bongon, Tabuelan, northern Cebu.
The boy suffered severe injuries in the head and other parts of his body.
His companions Jayboy Pepito Cole and John Kyle Arellano Momo, both aged 13, were not harmed during the incident.
“Mao pa daw tong una niyang pag-apil og kubkob (It was his first time to dig soil),” said PO3 Gilbert Allego in a phone interview.
Montebon was third in a brood of six.
“Buotan daw tong bataa. Kon unsay sugoon, motuman gyod (He was a good boy),” said Allego.
Investigation showed that the boys’ neighbor, Marvin Oporto Tulod, hired them to dig soil.
While digging a hole around 11:30 a.m., the boys did not notice the big rock over their heads.
It fell directly on the back of Montebon’s head.
Momo and Cole lifted the rock and tried to let their friend stand up, but Montebon was no longer moving.
Relatives
Neighbors and relatives, after they were informed about Montebon’s condition, went to the hole and rushed him to the town’s rural health center.
Montebon was later transferred to Tuburan District Hospital, where the doctor declared him dead on arrival.
The boy’s parents, Sanito and Vilma, reported the incident to the police station at 4 p.m. They opted not to file charges against Tulod, said Allego.
He said the parents and Tulod are not yet off the hook. The case was referred to the Women and Children’s Protection Desk.
“Kon naa makitang sayop, naa gyoy filan og kaso (If they committed a mistake, we will file charges against them),” said Allego.
Republic Act (RA) 9231, or the Anti-Child Labor Law, does not totally prohibit a minor from working. But it disallows work that exposes them to danger.
Minors are also protected by RA 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
RA 7610 defines child abuse as maltreatment of a minor, which includes “psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment” and “any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being.”
The law punishes any person “who shall commit any other acts of child abuse, cruelty, or exploitation or to be responsible for other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development.”