Home 
CEBU CITY, Philippines - Four teenagers were wounded during a gang war in Barangay (village) Duljo-Fatima in Cebu City on Sunday dawn.
A 13-year-old girl, the lone female involved in the incident, was hit in the head and was in critical condition at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
The assailants were three men believed to be members of the “Bloods Gang,” according to Police Officer 2 Rey Cuyos, homicide investigator at the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
Their victims were the four minors and 28-year-old Ken Cavin Protacio.
They were members of a gang known to the police as the “Cebu Real Gangsters,” or CRG based in Duljo-Fatima, he said.
This was the first recorded bloody incident in the barangay related to a gang war since he assumed office in December 2007, said Duljo-Fatima barangay Captain Elmer Abella.
Unfortunately, Abella said, it happened on the same day that barangay officials decided to relax their implementation of the city’s midnight-to-6 a.m. Curfew Ordinance for minors to give way to a benefit dance or disco initiated by the village's Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).
A report submitted by Cuyos said Protacio and the four minors were enjoying the SK-initiated disco in Sitio (district) Sto. Nino around 2 a.m. when one of the minors was approached by Franco Obiso who asked him if he were a member of the Bloods gang.
The witnesses did not hear what the minor said but they saw Obiso and the minor shook hands.
Obiso, however, suddenly got irked, prompting Protacio and his four friends to leave the dance floor.
An hour later, Protacio and the four minors were talking at the roadside of R. Padilla Street when Obiso arrived with two other men known as “Okloy” and an unidentified person — each driving a motorcycle — and suddenly stopped in front of Protacio and his friends.
Seconds later, Obiso and two his companions each took out a gun and fired at Protacio's group.
After firing at the five persons, Obiso uttered these words before leaving with his friends: “Way swerte ang sa mga igo (Bad luck for those who get hit!)”
Bystanders, who saw the incident, immediately informed barangay Duljo-Fatima officials led by Abella, who rushed to the scene in the company of two barangay tanods (village security officer).
Policemen from the Mambaling Police Station and from the Mobile Patrol Group also rushed to the crime scene but the assailants were already gone.
Protacio, who was hit in the leg, was brought to the CCMC along with his four wounded companions.
His 16-year-old friend was hit in the right foot while another, a 15-year-old boy, suffered a bullet wound in the left knee. The third male, a 17-year-old, was hit in the upper left arm and left armpit.
The four were all out of danger and were recuperating at the hospital, Cuyos said.
But the 13-year-old girl, who was hit both in the head and left leg, remained in critical condition, Cuyos said.
Abella said Sunday that the police conducted a follow-up operation to arrest the three perpetrators but they could no longer be found.
Abella said he and some policemen went to Barangay Sawang-Calero where Obiso was currently residing, but they did not find him there.
Policemen then went to find “Okloy” in his residence in Sitio Riverside in Duljo-Fatima but he too was not home.
Abella said “Okloy” was notoriously known in their community as a “rugby (solvent) addict.”
Abella said that as result of the incident, he decided to strengthen measures for a strict compliance of the city's 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Curfew Ordinance.
Cebu City acting Mayor Michael Rama said he could not blame the SK officials for sponsoring social dances late at night as “party starts at 7 p.m.”
The city's curfew ordinance is just an indication that parents do not have full authority over their children and the city has to take over and exercise some supervision over minors, he said.
“Para nako kanang curfew ordinance ang parental (guidance) has already collapsed and so we have to leave it to the parents to discipline their children,” Rama told Cebu Daily News (CDN).
Rama said he did not believe that a curfew ordinance was good for a highly urbanized city such as Cebu City but he stressed he would not call for its amendment as “it is still enforceable.”
“Dapat case to case basis na lang na kung asa ang mga lugar nga sa tan-aw nimo dili na gyod maka handle ang ginikanan and the children will have to end up in Pari-an or in jail. Dapat the police officials will only have to focus on those areas and give it higher priority,” Rama said.
Councilor Augustus Pe Jr., City Council chairman of the committee on public order and safety, said he believed that as the implementation of the Curfew Ordinance should be left at the discretion of barangay officials, particular since only about 10 percent of the city's 80 barangays enforce the measure.
He said they could not compel those barangays to implement the ordinance if they could not enforce it.
Pe said the incident should serve as a lesson for the SK in Duljo-Fatima to ensure that all safety measures should be considered when holding these events, especially social dances.
CDN tried but failed to reach Cebu City Councilor Rengell Pelayo, the SK president in the city, for her comment on the incident.
At the time of the incident, the city police were conducting synchronized checkpoints in critical areas but they could only cover a limited area because of its limited manpower, said Senior Superintendent Patrocinio Comendador, CCPO director.
He said it was unfortunate that minors were hurt in the shooting rampage but he also stressed that in addressing gang-related incidents, the remedy should start with parents, who are obligated to monitor their children.
Comendador also stressed that in this case, the victims have all properly identified the suspects and police elements in his command have all been instructed to track down the culprits. /With report from reporter Marian Z. Codilla
