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CEBU CITY, Philippines - A vice mayor of a northern Cebu town is accused of hurting an eight-year-old boy suspected of stealing food items from his warehouse.
A complaint of child abuse was filed against Vice Mayor Silvestre Momo of Tabuelan town on August 1 before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office.
The boy claimed that he suffered injuries in the right leg on July 18 when the vice mayor pulled him down while he was climbing down from a coconut tree.
He said the vice mayor accused him of attempting to steal from his warehouse in Barangay (village) Poblacion, Tabuelan, about 86.9 kilometers northwest of Cebu City.
“As a result of the incident, I suffered sleepness nights, anxiety and humiliation and I am praying that justice be served in my favor,” the boy said in his affidavit.
The vice mayor told Cebu Daily News that the complaint against him had no basis because he did not hurt the boy, even if he knew the boy stole grocery items and rice from his warehouse.
“Wala nako siya pugsa og wala ko'y plano nga ikiha siya. Ako lang pag-ila kinsa ang kawatan (I didn't force him to admit and I have no plans to sue him. All I want was to identify who stole my goods),” said Vice Mayor Momo in a phone interview.
Momo owns a convenience store beside his house in Poblacion. Across his house and store is a warehouse where he keeps the grocery items and sacks of rice. In front of the warehouse is a gas station, which is owned and managed by the vice mayor.
Aside from the vice mayor, his son, Ike Momo and Senior Police Officer 1 Wilson Abot of the Tabuelan police station were included in the complaint for violation of Republic Act 7610, an act providing for stronger deterrence and special protection against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
The boy, a grade three pupil, suffered contusions in the right leg after he was allegedly grabbed by the vice mayor while he was climbing down from the coconut tree near the local official's warehouse on July 18.
In an affidavit, the boy claimed that he was standing beside the warehouse about 1 p.m. of that day when he noticed the birds chirping on the nest on top of a coconut tree.
Out of curiosity, the boy decided to climb the tree to get to the nest.
But halfway through his climb, he noticed the damage on one of his slippers. So he decided to climb down to the roof of the warehouse so he could fix his slipper.
An employee of the vice mayor, however, noticed him standing on top of the roof and told him to immediately go down.
As he climbed down, a hand emerged from a hole in the roof and grabbed his right leg.
“I noticed it was Silvestre Momo who kept on pulling my feet and my feet hit a galvanized iron,” the boy said in his affidavit.
The boy said the vice mayor accused him of stealing rice and grocery items stored inside the warehouse.
He said he told Momo that he did not steal anything and that he was on the coconut tree to try to get to the birds' nest. The vice mayor, however, did not listen to his explanation.
The vice mayor's son, Ike, then arrived and accused him of stealing the “boxes and rice” from the warehouse.
“Your brother is also a thief,” the boy quoted Ike as saying. The boy said the vice mayor's son then threw a piece of wood and a coconut husk at him.
Momo then instructed his helper to hold the boy's leg while he ran to the police station to get assistance.
A few minutes later, the vice mayor came back with Abot. The police officer allegedly told the boy to get into the hole of the roof so he could take pictures of him using a cellular phone.
The boy said he obeyed the police officer's instructions but his body could not fit into the hole. Abot instead took pictures of him on the coconut tree.
It was only after Abot was finished taking the pictures that he was allowed to go down from the tree.
Moments later, the boy's mother arrived. She decided to report the incident to the police when her son told her what happened to him.
When reached for comment, Momo said the boy was one of those thieves who would break into his warehouse at night.
But he denied the allegations that he hurt the boy to force him to admit to the theft. He added he had no plans of suing the boy because he only wanted to know the identity of those persons who burglarized his warehouse.
The vice mayor lamented that he had been losing profits because of these burglaries, which have been happening at his warehouse for almost two years.
He suspected that some children in the neighborhood were the ones stealing the bottles of soft drinks and beer, packs of sugar and bags of rice that were kept inside the warehouse.
He said the complaint against him had no basis. His only mistake was putting so much trust on the people around him.
Momo said he had asked the boy's uncle to identify the thieves. The boy's uncle would know if someone had climbed through the roof to get into the warehouse because the coconut tree was planted on the lot owned by the boy's uncle.
He said the hole in the roof was made by thieves a few months ago to get into the warehouse. But the vice mayor said he did not have it fixed because he wanted to catch the thieves.
Momo said that when he finally caught one of the thieves, the boy allegedly admitted that he was just one of many who would steal from the warehouse.
The vice mayor admitted that pictures were taken of the boy climbing the coconut tree but he said it was not true that the police officer forced the boy to enter the hole.
He added he was not afraid that the case may be elevated to the courts because he has witnesses who could prove he did not hurt the boy.
“Mogawas ra ang unsay tinuod (The truth will eventually come out),” he said.
